Cargo theft prevention system and method

ABSTRACT

Arrangement and method for monitoring a structure at a fixed location, e.g., a house, parked boat or parked airplane, includes a monitoring or sensor system arranged to obtain information about the structure, an exterior of the structure and/or an interior of the structure different than the location of the structure, and a communication system coupled to the sensor system and being provided with a location of the structure. The communication system transmits the information about the structure obtained by the sensor system and the location of the structure to a remote facility. The remote facility can therefore monitor the structure, and take steps to ensure the integrity of the reservoir and the fluid therein. To enable wireless and powerless monitoring, a power source independent of a power grid extending outside of the trailer may be provided to supply power to the sensor system and the communications unit.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of International Application No.PCT/US2012/029079 filed Mar. 14, 2012 which claims priority of U.S.provisional patent application Ser. Nos. 61/452,418 filed Mar. 14, 2011,61/508,822 filed Jul. 18, 2011, and 61/584,642 filed Jan. 9, 2012, allof which are incorporated by reference herein.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to arrangements and methods for monitoringfixed structures such as buildings and vacations homes, for break-ins,fire, smoke, water, pollution, etc.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The theft of cargo in the United States has been reported by the FBI(http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2010/november/cargo_(—)111210/cargo_(—)111210)as being approximately $30 Billion annually in terms of the actual cargovalue and may be as much as ten times that amount if all costs are takeinto account such as disruptions in the supply chain. C. H. Robinson hasbeen working with the Flemming Cargo Securement and OnAsset companies toreduce this theft through placing hidden sensors and transmitters withinpallets of cargo. This solution is destined to fail as thieves becomeaware of this approach and move to defeat it. Thieves have learned howto defeat other attempted theft countermeasures such as locks andtransmitting systems and thus there is a need for a new comprehensivesolution to reduce the theft of cargo eventually to zero. The inventionsdescribed herein are to solve this heretofore unsolved serious cargotheft problem and achieve zero cargo theft. The implementation of theseinventions can be termed The Road to Zero Cargo Theft™ or RtZCT™.

Additional statistics appeared in a recent report (February 2008)published by the International Road Union (IRU) and InternationalTransport Forum (ITF) highlighted that over the period 2000-2005:

-   -   1. 17% of all drivers have suffered an attack during the 5-year        period investigated    -   2. 30% of attacked drivers have been attacked more than once    -   3. 21% of drivers were physically assaulted    -   4. 60% of the attacks targeted the vehicle and its load    -   5. 42% of the attacks took place in truck parking areas    -   6. 30% of the attacked drivers did not report the incident to        the police    -   7. Countries where the highest number of surveyed attacks        occurred, per million tonnes of international traffic, are:        Romania (5.03/Mt), Hungary (1.31/Mt), and Poland (1.21/Mt)

According to an EU Parliament report, the Transported Asset ProtectionAssociation (TAPA) estimated losses of 8.2 billion Euros across thewhole of Europe, which when viewed in full economic loss terms,including cost of replacement goods, re-shipping and reputational damageetc. are a small fraction of the actual damage.

In the US, Cargo theft rose by 4.1% in 2010, to 899 recorded theftincidents, the highest on record. Of the 899 incidents, 724 (81%) werefull truckload or container thefts and 31 were warehouse burglaries(3.4%). Violence was involved in 1.3% of the incidents (10 hijackingsand two warehouse robberies). This was the second year in a row in whichtelevisions were the product most stolen on record. Of note, 61% of allelectronics thefts occurred in the states of California, Florida andTexas.

Of the 899 cargo theft incidents recorded for that year with a knowntheft type, 724 (approximately 88%) were full truckload or containerthefts. Warehouse burglaries declined slightly from 2009 figures,totaling 31 incidents in 2010 compared with 36 the previous year.

Cargo theft can take many forms such as the theft of a tractor andtrailer, the theft of the trailer alone or the theft of cargo that iswithin the trailer. A preferred approach is to steal the trailer bydisconnecting it from the tractor while the driver has stopped at atruck stop for a rest, bathroom stop or a meal. It has been reportedthat the thieves are able to disconnect a trailer and connect it toanother tractor, or to steal both the tractor and trailer, in as littleas 15 seconds and be on their way before the driver is aware of theevent. During the process, the thieves can detect whether the trailer istransmitting information and jam or block the transmission thuspreventing a remote site or the driver from learning that a theft is inprogress.

The word trailer will be used herein to generally mean not only atrailer in the usual sense as an unpowered vehicle pulled by a poweredvehicle but also any container capable of transporting cargo such asships, barges, train cars and, where appropriate, airplanes. The focusof this invention is movable containers but many of the inventive ideaspresented here are also applicable to fixed cargo containers such asstorage tanks, warehouses and other buildings.

A further detailed discussion of background information is set forth inthe applications listed above and incorporated by reference herein. Allof the patents, patent applications, technical papers and otherreferences referenced below and in the parent applications areincorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Various patents,patent applications, patent publications and other published documentsare discussed below as background of the invention. No admission is madethat any or all of these references are prior art and indeed, it iscontemplated that they may not be available as prior art wheninterpreting 35 U.S.C. §102 in consideration of the claims of thepresent application.

There is considerable discussion herein on the use of transponders andcoded transmitters. This is a fertile area for invention and it iscontemplated that future patent applications related to this one willcover many of these inventions. In the meantime, the disclosures of thefollowing US patents and US application constitute some of the keyimplementations of such coded transponders and transmitters: U.S. Pat.Nos. 5,917,423, 6,229,988, 7,106,211, 7,511,606, 7,536,169, 7,561,102,7,664,462, and 20100277296.

Definitions in the Background of the Invention section of any of theabove-mentioned applications are also generally, but not restrictively,applicable herein.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide new and improvedsystems for reducing and eliminating the theft of cargo that resides intruck trailers, of the trailer with the cargo or of the tractor andcargo containing trailer.

In order to achieve this object and possibly others, an arrangement formonitoring a trailer when it is moving at one frequency and at a higherfrequency when it is at a fixed location in accordance with theinvention includes a monitoring or sensor system arranged to obtaininformation about the trailer or an interior of the trailer in additionto the location of the trailer, and a communication system coupled tothe sensor system and being provided with a location of the trailer. Thecommunication system transmits the information about the trailerobtained by the sensor system and the location of the trailer to aremote facility at a high frequency such as once every 5 seconds.Various sensors are envisioned including an accelerometer, a motionsensor, an RFID sensor, an electromagnetic sensor, camera, microphone,ultrasound sensor, capacitive sensor, chemical sensor, moisture sensor,radiation sensor, biological sensor, temperature sensor, pressuresensor, radiation sensor, an intruder sensor, a fire detector, a smokedetector, a water detector and a pollution sensor.

The sensor system may be arranged to periodically obtain informationabout the trailer and provide the information to the communicationssystems which transmits the information to the remote facility. Toenable wireless and powerless monitoring, a power source independent ofa power source extending outside of the trailer or provided by thetractor may be provided to supply power to the sensor system and thecommunications unit.

To efficiently manage power yet provide suitable protection, the sensorsystem may include an initiation device for periodically initiating thesensor system to obtain information about the vehicle or its contents. Awakeup sensor system detects the occurrence of an internal or externalevent, or the absence of an event for a time period, requiring a changein the frequency of monitoring of the trailer and transmitting messages.The initiation device is coupled to the wakeup sensor system and changesthe rate at which it initiates the sensor system to obtain informationabout the trailer in response to the detected occurrence of an internalor external event by the wakeup sensor system. In particular, when thetrailer is not moving indicating that it is parked, the transmissionfrequency is substantially increased so that the remote site that isreceiving the information can detect that a theft may be in process ifthe transmissions cease without a message from the driver that he hasreturned to the tractor. Such a driver returned message can be initiatedby the sensing of a tag, smart card, smart phone or other equivalentdevice carried by the driver or by a sensing of an identifiablebiometric signature by a sensor within or associated with the tractor orby a cell phone or other driver initiated communication.

In the event that a theft is detected as being in process, an immediatemessage can be transmitted by the remote site to one or more of thefollowing: (1) law enforcement officials in the area; (2) the driver;(3) other equipped trucks in the vicinity; (4) surveillance cameras inthe area and/or (5) to drone aircraft that can be launched to photographand follow the trailer should it be moved by unauthorized persons. Ifthe message is acted on by truckers with communications equipped trucksand such trucks are able to block the thieves or to follow them untilthe law enforcement authorities arrive, then a reward can be paid to thetruckers for preventing the theft. Thus, the entire trucking industrycan be made part of the solution to the cargo theft problem.

The sensor system may be controllable by the remote facility to obtaininformation about the trailer. The sensor system may include an integralenergy providing system and can be wirelessly connected to a processor.

A method for monitoring a trailer in accordance with the inventionincludes arranging a sensor system to obtain information about thetrailer different than the location of the trailer, obtaininginformation about the trailer via the sensor system, and transmittingthe obtained information about the trailer and the location of thetrailer to a remote facility. The communication system may be wirelesslycoupled to the sensor system. An environment around the trailer may bemonitored by the sensors to obtain information about the environmentaround the trailer, and the information about the environment around thetrailer transmitted to the remote facility along with the informationabout the trailer and the location of the trailer. The sensor system maybe controlled to periodically obtain information about the trailer. Atleast one reactive system may be arranged at the trailer to adjust acondition in the trailer and controlled by the remote facility based onthe transmitted information about the trailer obtained by the sensorsystem. The communication system can involve the Short Message System(SMS) such as used by cell phones when texting, the General Packet RadioService (GPRS), other cell phone based systems, WiMAX or LTE baseinternet connection systems, citizen's band radio, satellitecommunication systems or any other appropriate communication system.Other texting systems include Google Voice, Pinger, Apple iMessage,BlackBerry Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber Media, Facebook Messenger andKakaoTalk.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following drawings are illustrative of embodiments of the systemdeveloped or adapted using the teachings of at least one of theinventions disclosed herein and are not meant to limit the scope of theinvention as encompassed by the claims.

FIG. 1 illustrates a first embodiment of a cargo space equipped with asystem in accordance with the invention for obtaining information from atagged object in the cargo space.

FIG. 2 illustrates a second embodiment of a cargo space equipped with asystem in accordance with the invention for obtaining information from atagged object in the cargo space.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a cargo space with RF windows.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a cargo space with an antennamultiplexer arrangement.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a cargo space with multiple antennaswhich enable the position of a tag to be determined based on receptionof signals by the antennas.

FIGS. 6 and 7 are block diagrams of an interrogator with a singleantenna which may be used in the invention.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an interrogator with multiple antennaswhich may be used in the invention.

FIG. 9 illustrates systems for deriving or harvesting electrical powerfor use in the invention.

FIG. 10 illustrates a method of using triangulation to determine thelocation of a tag within a cargo space in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 11 is a cutaway view of a vehicle showing possible mountinglocations for vehicle interior temperature, humidity, carbon dioxide,carbon monoxide, alcohol or other chemical or physical propertymeasuring sensors.

FIG. 12 is a schematic of a vehicle with several accelerometers and/orgyroscopes at preferred locations in the vehicle.

FIG. 13 illustrates a driver with a timed RFID approaching the tractordoor of a truck.

FIG. 14 illustrates the driver with the timed RFID 5 seconds after thetractor sensors have identified the driver, opened the door and disabledthe security system.

FIG. 15 illustrates a security disabling arrangement for a vehicle inaccordance with the invention.

FIG. 16 illustrates a tractor with a stolen trailer being monitored by adrone.

FIG. 17 is a schematic of the system of multiple sensors.

FIG. 18 is a perspective view showing a shipping container including oneembodiment of the monitoring system in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 19 is a flow chart showing one manner in which a container ismonitored in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 20A is a cross-sectional view of a container showing the use ofRFID technology in a monitoring system and method in accordance with theinvention.

FIG. 20B is a cross-sectional view of a container showing the use ofbarcode technology in a monitoring system and method in accordance withthe invention.

FIG. 20C is a cross-sectional view of a refrigerated container showingthe use of a diagnostic module in a monitoring system and method inaccordance with the invention.

FIG. 21 is a flow chart showing one manner in which multiple assets aremonitored in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 22 is a block diagram showing a process for controlling the trailerparking and emergency brake dump valves.

FIG. 23 is a schematic side view of a movable storage tank, commonlyknown as a Frac tank, containing a level monitoring system in accordancewith the invention.

FIG. 24 shows one preferred method of determining the level of a fluidin a tank that is independent on temperature or the speed of sound.

FIG. 25 is a schematic illustration of the method of FIG. 24.

FIG. 26 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a fluid levelmeasuring system in accordance with the invention.

FIG. 27 is an enlarged view of the fluid level measuring system shown inFIG. 26.

FIG. 28 illustrates a truck with a trailer and various mountinglocations for cameras that monitor the environment exterior to thetrailer.

FIG. 29 is a block diagram showing a process for controlling the trailerparking and emergency brake lockout system.

FIG. 30 illustrates a brake lockout mechanism for use with drum brakes.

FIGS. 30A-30E illustrate various aspects of the brake lockout mechanism.

FIGS. 31A-31C illustrate a brake lockout mechanism for use with diskbrakes.

FIG. 32 illustrates a brake lockout mechanism as in FIG. 30 with theelectronic controller mounted outside of the brake area and connected bya wire to stepping switch assembly.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 1. Definitions

Although many of the examples below relate to a cargo space in an asset,the invention is not limited to any particular space in any particularasset and is thus applicable to all types of assets including vehicles,shipping containers, and truck trailers regardless if they are pulled bytractors or are on boats, trains or planes. For the purposes of thisdisclosure, the word vehicle will be used to represent all suchcontainers, trucks, trains, boats, airplanes and other vehicles whereappropriate.

Prior to describing the invention in detail, definitions of certainwords or phrases used throughout this patent document will be defined:the terms “include” and “comprise”, as well as derivatives thereof, meaninclusion without limitation; the term “or” is inclusive, meaningand/or; the phrases “associated with” and “associated therewith”, aswell as derivatives thereof, may mean to include, be included within,interconnect with, contain, be contained within, connect to or with,couple to or with, be communicable with, cooperate with, interleave,juxtapose, be proximate to, be bound to or with, have, have a propertyof, or the like; and the term “controller”, “control module”, “controlunit”, “processor” are generally synonymous and mean any device, systemor part thereof that controls at least one operation, whether such adevice is implemented in hardware, firmware, software or somecombination of at least two of the same. It should be noted that thefunctionality associated with any particular controller may becentralized or distributed, whether locally or remotely. Definitions ofcertain words and phrases are provided throughout this patent document,and those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that suchdefinitions apply in many, if not most, instances to prior as well asfuture uses of such defined words and phrases.

2. Cargo Monitoring Systems

Referring to the accompanying drawings, FIGS. 1-10 illustrate a methodand system for identifying and locating an RFID-tagged article inside acargo space defined by a frame. The RFID tags can be active, passive ora combination of both, or MIR or Wibree transmitters, or devicesproviding backscatter including antennas and dihedral and corner cubereflectors. The system can employ multiple antennas inside or outside ofa cargo space, truck trailer or other vehicle cargo space as illustratedin FIGS. 1-6. The system is preferably designed for a low power batteryoperation when the cargo space is not tethered to a power source. Someenergy harvesting methods for powering the system are shown in FIG. 9.The system can require little power and have a low duty cycle when notconnected to a power source. Thus, the system can provide RFID tagidentification, and in some cases sensor monitoring information, formany years with internal battery power.

A passive or active RFID tag can operate at about 915 MHz (ISM band)complying with FCC rule 15, for example, or other rules that may applyeither in the US or other countries. The frequency can be any frequencypermitted under these rules.

FIG. 1 illustrates an embodiment of a cargo space with three antennas10, 12, 14 spaced in a triangular fashion and connected to aninterrogator 16 internal to the cargo space with the antennas 10, 12,and 14 shown in one possible configuration arranged on a common wall ofthe cargo space. The interrogator 16 can be arranged inside or outsideof the cargo space and can be mounted on the outside, within or on theinside of a wall defining the cargo space. For example, for the shippingcontainer shown in FIG. 1 having four walls, a roof and a floor, theantennas 10, 12, 14 can be arranged in or on the inside or outside ofthe front wall. This wall may be the fixed wall opposite the door of theshipping container. In other embodiments, the antennas 10, 12, 14 can bearranged in or on the other walls, the ceiling or the floor of thecontainer or in multiple locations.

The interrogator 16 may be arranged within the triangle defined by theantennas 10, 12, 14, for example, at or about the approximate center ofthe triangle. In other embodiments with multiple antennas, theinterrogator may be situated to be equidistant from all of the antennas.Nevertheless, the location of the interrogator relative to the antennasis not critical to the practice of the invention and the interrogatormay be placed anywhere on the asset defining the cargo space, or evenseparate and apart from the asset, as described below. The interrogator16 may be connected to the antennas 10, 12, 14 using wires orwirelessly. The time delay for the signals to travel from theinterrogator 16 to the antennas 10, 12, 14 needs to be considered in thecalculations to determine the distance to an RFID tag. Thesecalculations are simplified if the distance to each antenna 10, 12, 14from the interrogator 16 is the same.

The interrogator 16 can be connected to a satellite communication unitor other communication unit 18 from its location associated with thecargo space, e.g., outside or in the interior of the cargo space, usinga wire or wirelessly using an antenna. As shown, communication unit 18can be arranged on an exterior surface such as a roof of the asset. Thesatellite or other communication unit 18 can have an external antennaand can be used to send tag and other information to a remote site. Thedistances from each antenna 10, 12, 14 to an RFID device or tag 20 areshown as D1, D2 and D3. These distances can be determined by a processorwithin the interrogator 16 shown schematically in FIG. 8, or theinformation obtained by the interrogator 16 can be transmitted toanother processor that may be on the frame defining the cargo space orat a remote location where the calculations can be performed. Theinterrogator 16 can additionally obtain information from sensors mountedin conjunction with and connected to tag 20 in addition to the tagidentification. These sensors can, for example, monitor the motion,temperature, integrity, attitude, pressure, weight, leakage and/or anyother parameter associated with the object with which the tag isassociated or its environment

In the above example, the interrogator 16 transmits an interrogationsignal and the tags, such as tag 20, return a response with the desiredinformation. An alternate approach is for the tag 20, for example, toperiodically transmit a signal which is received by antennas 10, 12, and14. If a clock in the tag 20 has been synchronized with a clock in theinterrogator 16, then the distances D1, D2, and D3 can be determinedprovided multipath and other effects are ignored or otherwise dealtwith. If a fourth antenna 8 is provided, then four signals are receivedby the interrogator 16 and clock synchronization is unnecessary. Addingadditional antennas can improve the location determination of tag 20especially when the transmission path to the tag 20 is obstructedleading to signal transmission delays and multipath complications. Thusin this embodiment, the RFID device 20 returns a signal at a specifictime after receipt of an interrogation signal or pulse from one or moreof the antennas 10, 12, 14, or at an appointed or predesignated time.

In one embodiment when the interrogator 16 causes transmission ofsignals from multiple antennas 10, 12, 14, the RFID 20 when receivingsignals from one or more of these antennas 10, 12, 14 may be arranged orprogrammed to provide information in the return signal indicative of aphase or relative time of reception of signals from the multipleantennas. A processor such as the one associated with the interrogator16 could then analyze the return signals and, from the phase or timereception information, derive information about the location of the RFIDdevice 20 or object to which it is mounted.

The determination of the presence and location of a tag within a cargoarea such as a truck trailer provides an indication as to whether atheft has occurred or is occurring. The presence determination is thefirst indication that a theft has occurred but may not be sufficient asa sophisticated thief may remove the RFID tag and leave it in thetrailer. Thus, the position of the tag provides a more positiveindication as to whether the cargo has been disturbed or stolen.

Returning now to the monitoring of tagged cargo within the trailer, FIG.2 illustrates an embodiment of a cargo space with three antennas 22, 24,26 spaced in a triangular fashion located on the roof, ceiling and/ortop of the shipping container defining the cargo space and connected toan interrogator 28 internal to the cargo space. The interrogator 28 isconnected to an external antenna 30 and can also be connected to asatellite and/or other communication unit as in FIG. 1. The distancesfrom each antenna 22, 24, 26 to the RFID device or tag 32 are shown asD1, D2 and D3. The interrogator 28 may be arranged within the triangledefined by the antennas 22, 24, 26 or elsewhere. The variationsdescribed for the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 are equally applicable tothis embodiment.

Mounting of the antennas 22, 24, 26, and/or possibly any other type ofelectromagnetic energy transmitter, on the roof of the shippingcontainer is advantageous in that is it very unlikely to interfere withthe maximum use of the cargo space provided by the shipping container.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment of a shipping container defining acargo space with multiple RF windows 34, 36, 38, 40 in the frame of thecontainer. The windows 34, 36, 38, 40 allow for the signal to and fromone or more RFID devices or tags 42 in the cargo space to transmit andreceive signals from an interrogator 44 such as shown schematically inFIG. 6 which can be located outside of the cargo space. This embodimenttherefore enables an interrogator 44 to obtain signals via antenna 46from an RFID device or tag 42 within a cargo space while theinterrogator 44 is separate and apart from the cargo space. Such RFwindows can be needed when metal walls are interposed between theinterrogator and its antenna, and the space defined by the frame. It isthus conceivable that the interrogator and its antenna may even bearranged on the frame yet require one or more RF windows to enablesignals from the antenna to pass into the space and return signals fromany RFID devices in the space to pass out of the space to be received bythe antenna. Walls made from other materials may also pose transmissionproblems depending on the interrogator frequency and power. Thus,knowledge of the materials of the walls is a factor when determining theinterrogator frequency.

The size, location and number of RF windows in an asset, such as theshipping container defining the cargo space shown in FIG. 3, can varydepending on, for example, the expected and possible locations of RFIDdevices or tags in the cargo space or other space defined by the asset,the dimensions of the cargo space or other space defined by the asset,and the expected relative position between the antenna of theinterrogator and the RFID devices. It is possible that one or more RFwindows be situated at the same location on a particular type ofshipping container and that a scanning system being provided for usewith such shipping containers which is designed to accept one or moreshipping containers in a position in which the RF windows areautomatically properly aligned with an antenna of an interrogator of thescanning system. This will simplify the scanning of the shippingcontainers.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of a cargo space with a multiple ofinternal antennas 46, 48, 50, 52 connected to an antenna multiplexer 54(such as a PE4261 SP4T RF UltraCMOS™ Flip Chip Switch manufactured byPeregrine Semiconductor). As shown, antennas 46, 48, 50, 52 are allarranged at the top of the shipping container defining the cargo space.

The multiplexer 54 may be connected to an antenna 56 outside of thecargo space (an external antenna, yet one which is still mounted onand/or attached to the frame defining the cargo space) forcommunications with an external interrogator such as illustrated in FIG.6. A transceiver may be connected between the multiplexer 54 and theexternal antenna 56 in order to increase the signal strength of thesignals from the RFID device 58 which is internal to the shippingcontainer defining the cargo space. The external antenna 56 is used tocommunicate with an interrogator and its antenna which is used tocontrol the transmissions of signals by the antennas 46, 48, 50, 52 andprocess signals received by the antennas into information about the RFIDdevice 58 and/or an object on or to which the RFID device is attached. Aprocessor may be used for this purpose and may either be part of theinterrogator or separate therefrom which can be remote from theinterrogator.

The RFID device location in the cargo space may be determined bymeasuring the distances from the RFID device 58 to each of the internalantennas 46, 48, 50, 52 by triangulation as illustrated in FIG. 10 anddescribed below. Triangulation may be used in the same manner wheneverthere are at least three antennas which receive signals generated by thepresence of an RFID device in a monitored cargo space. If at least fourantennas are used, then the internal time delay in the RFID circuitryneed not be known. This is similar to the techniques used fordetermining the location of a GPS receiver based on receptions from foursatellites. Whenever GPS is mentioned herein, it is understood that itencompasses Glonass, Galileo, Compus or other similar satellite-basedpositioning systems.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a cargo space with multiple internalantennas 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 70 connected to an antenna multiplexer 72(such as the PE4261). The multiplexer 72 may be connected to an externalantenna 74 outside of the cargo space for communications with anexternal interrogator such as illustrated in FIG. 5. As in theembodiment of FIG. 4, a transceiver may be connected between themultiplexer 72 and the outside antenna 74 for increasing the signalstrength of the signals from the RFID device 76 or RFID devices whichare within the cargo space. The RFID device location in the cargo spacemay be determined by measuring the signal strengths from the internalantennas 60, 62, 64, 66, 68, 70, whereby the antenna closest to the RFIDdevice 76 will have the largest or strongest signal therefore the zonewhere the RFID device 76 is located in the cargo space may bedetermined.

When using multiple antennas on an asset and deriving the generallocation of the RFID device or RFID-device equipped object based on thesignal strength, the antennas can be distributed or spaced apart alongany single dimension of the asset, e.g., longitudinally for the shippingcontainer as shown in FIG. 5. In this manner, the approximatelongitudinal location of the RFID device or object equipped therewithcould be determined. Of course, when two antennas provide signals havingequal strength, it could be derived that the RFID device is situatedapproximately half-way between the antenna locations.

In one embodiment, the antennas are arranged along a longitudinal centerline of the cargo space, e.g., down the center or side of a shippingtrailer or container.

FIG. 6 illustrates a block diagram of an interrogator with a singleantenna which may be used in the embodiments herein. Information fromthis interrogator may be displayed locally and/or sent over acommunications link, such as a satellite, cell phone, internet orequivalent link, to a remote location for processing, logging,re-transmission and/or for any other purpose including theftdetermination.

The interrogator 78 includes a pair of oscillators 80, 82, a modulator84 processing the output from oscillators 80, 82 and providing output toa power amplifier 86, and a circulator 88 connected to the poweramplifier 86 and providing a signal for transmission by the antenna 90with a signal being received by antenna 90 being directed through thecirculator 88 to an amplifier 92. A phase detector 94 is connected tothe oscillator 82, modulator 84 and amplifier 92 which performs a phasecomparison between the signals transmitted and received via antenna 90.A microprocessor 96 is coupled to the modulator 84 and phase detector 94which analyzes the phase comparison to determine information about aRFID device which returns a signal to the antenna 90. This informationmay be distance or range information, which may be provided to anexternal device and/or a display. Additionally or alternatively, it maybe identification information, or information from any RFID deviceassociated sensors.

The information may be derived using the known speed of the waves (speedof light) and the time for travel of the waves, since the distancebetween the antenna and the RFID-device is equal to one-half the speedmultiplied by the total travel time.

FIG. 7 illustrates a block diagram of an interrogator with a singleantenna similar to that shown in FIG. 6. Information from thisinterrogator may be displayed locally and/or sent over a communicationslink via a communications device 97 to a remote location as above. Thisembodiment of an interrogator shows a method for measuring the distancefrom the interrogator antenna to the antenna of an RFID device. Themodulation used may be either amplitude or frequency; the phase detectormay be of the phase/frequency type. An exemplifying calculation foramplitude modulation would involve determining the time for travel ofthe waves, which is equal to twice the distance between the antenna andthe RFID-device (having a set maximum, for example, of 5 meters) dividedby the speed of light.

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an interrogator with multipleantennas which may be used in embodiments herein. The block diagram issimilar to that shown in FIG. 6 and the same reference numeralsdesignate the same elements. However, in this embodiment, individualantennas are selected by a MUX 98 (which may be one designated in theliterature as a PE4261). The MUX 98 controls the transmission andreception of signals via antennas 100, 102, 104. Any number of antennasmay be provided. The PE4261 is limited to six antennas. Control of theMUX 98 may be achieved using the microprocessor 96 which is coupledthereto.

Information from this interrogator may be displayed locally and/or sentover a communications link to a remote location as described above. Thisembodiment of an interrogator shows a method for measuring the distancefrom the selected interrogator antenna to a tag antenna. The modulationmay be amplitude, frequency or pulse; the phase detector may be of thephase/frequency type. Example calculations are shown for amplitudemodulation. By using the distances from the antennas 100, 102, 104 to atag, the location of the tag can be calculated by triangulation as shownin FIG. 10 and described below.

FIG. 9 illustrates three exemplary methods for deriving or harvestingelectrical power for the operation of interrogators, multiplexers,transceivers or transmitters, as well as any other electricity consumingdevices on the cargo container needed for the operation and/or for thepurpose of gathering information about a tagged object in the cargospace. Such devices can be situated within the cargo space and/or in oron the structure defining the cargo space. These energy harvestingdevices include solar panels 106 (shown in the top of the cargocontainer), a vibration power generator 108 (shown on a side of thecontainer) and a magnetic field variation device 110 which generateselectrical power based on variations in a magnetic field caused bymovement of the container. Other energy harvesting devices can also beused.

FIG. 10 illustrates a method of using triangulation to determine thelocation of a typical tag 112 within a cargo space, which may be used inembodiments described herein. The exemplary tag location determinationby triangulation is shown for two dimensions in the x, y plane but maybe readily extended to a three-dimensional x, y, z space.

-   -   Let:    -   R1=The measured range from Antenna 114 to the tag 112.    -   R2=The measured range from Antenna 116(a,0) to the tag 112.    -   a=known distance between antennas        R1² :=x ² +y ²        y ² :=R1² −x ²  Eq (1)        R2²:=(x+a)² +y ²  Eq (2)    -   substituting:        R2²:=(x+a)² +R1² −x ²        R2² −R1² :=x ²+2a·x+a ² −x ²        2·a·x:=R2² −R1² −a ²    -   R1 and R2 are measured values and a is known by the distance        between the antennas 114, 116 therefore; x can be computed. Once        x is computed y can be found by substituting x into equation 1.

$x:=\frac{\left( {{R\; 2^{2}} - {R\; 1^{2}} - a^{2}} \right)}{2 \cdot a}$

The location of the tag 112 in three dimensions can now be easily foundby those skilled in the art.

The above analysis has been based on the time of arrival of a signalfrom a tag at the various antennas relative to the time of transmissionand the known delay in the RFID tag between reception of theinterrogation signal and transmission of the return signal by the tag. Aset of equations can also be derived based on four antennas thatprovides the three dimensional location of the tag plus the time thatthe transmission was sent from the tag based on the time of arrival atthe four antennas. Other methods based on the angle of arrival canpermit vectors to be drawn that pass through the tag location and thenbased on the calculation of the intersection of these vectors, thelocation of the tag can be found. Information about this technique isdisclosed, for example, in Z. Wen, L. Li, and P. Wei “Fast DirectionUsing Modified Pseudocovariance Matrix”, IEEE Transactions on Antennasand Propagation, Vol 54, No. 12, December 2006, and articles referencedtherein.

An alternate approach is for the antennas to send short pulses which allof the tags would hear and record the times of arrival. The recordedarrival times would then be sent back to the interrogator from which theinterrogator processor could determine the location of a tag based onthe pattern of signals that the tag received. Each antenna could appendan ID so that the tag could record the tag signal correspondence. Thesetechniques can be based on relative times or on absolute time. Thelatter could be determined by a variety of methods including syncing theclock on each tag with the interrogator clock or, alternately, recordingthe time of arrival from at least four antennas.

Another method of determining the location of a tag is to enable the tagto either receive or transmit ultrasound. In the latter case, the tagwould emit an ultrasonic pulse when it receives an RF pulse andlisteners distributed around the cargo space would receive eachultrasonic pulse at a different time and thereby know, or enable adetermination of, the distance to the tag. If there are three listenersand the time that the interrogation pulse was sent is known, then thetag location is known based on the known location of the listeners sincethe speed of sound is much slower than the speed of light.

The methods and systems described above for interacting with RFIDdevices or tags are equally applicable for other types of tags orresponsive devices including but not limited to various SAW devices,resonators and reflectors (e.g., corner cube or dihedral reflectors),such as disclosed in the patents and applications listed above. Theinformation obtained by the methods and system in accordance with theinvention which interact with these devices may be identificationinformation and positional information. In the latter case, when tagsare installed onto components of assets, such as items of cargo, theirpresence, positions and/or orientations can be determined and used tocontrol other systems. Such systems include systems having an outputwhich varies as a function of the presence, position and/or orientationof the components (which may correlate to the presence, position and/ororientation of items of cargo).

In a preferred embodiment, the asset is a vehicle and one or morecomponents are equipped with RFID devices. The interrogator controlstransmission of RF signals from the antennas to cause these RFID devicesto generate return signals. Analysis of these return signals by aprocessor associated with the interrogator can be used to deriveinformation about the components. In this regard, reference is made tothe disclosure of U.S. Pat. No. 6,820,897 which is directed to, amongother things, the use of resonators arranged on vehicular components.

Additional variations of any of the embodiments of the methods andsystems described above include the ability of the interrogator and/orantenna multiplexer to transmit signals from the RFID devices and/orinformation derived from the RFID devices and any sensors associatedtherewith to one or more locations or sites remote from the assetcontaining the RFID device. This allows remote monitoring of assets andthe contents of such assets. Additionally, one or more processors on thetrailer can process the information returned by the RFID devices orsensors and transmit a message, which may be encrypted andnon-spoofable, to a remote site that indicates that all is OK or thatthere has been an event, such as a theft or attempted theft, requiringaction by the remote site.

The presence of an interrogator on the same frame or structure whichdefines a space into which RFID devices or objects equipped with RFIDdevices reside greatly simplifies the ability to scan spaces of theseframes or structures. The objects equipped with the RFID devices mayinclude sensors. In addition, such sensors may be arranged to beindependently interrogated by the interrogator which would thusinterrogate the RFID devices and the sensors. These sensors may betemperature, optical, flow, humidity, chemical, biochemical, current,voltage, magnetic field, electric field, force, acceleration, velocity,displacement, position, vibration, acoustic, ultrasonic, radiation,charge, viscosity, density, electrical resistance, electrical impedance,electrical capacitance, electrical inductance, opacity, turbidity andpressure or other sensors.

The methods and systems described above can also be used to determinethe location of RFID devices exterior and proximate to a cargo space, onor in another part of the vehicle containing the interrogator.

The power transmitted by the antennas may be higher in view of thetransmission of the radio frequency signals into a closed cargo space.In this regard, transmission rules by the FCC may not apply within anenclosed volume with regard to frequencies or power especially if thewalls of the container block the transmission of the signals out of thecontainer.

The invention is also applicable to the placement of RFID device onluggage or baggage which is placed on airplanes. In this case, apassenger and others can always locate their baggage, provided they havean interrogator to determine the location of each passenger's luggage.This permits airline personnel to locate particular baggage within aplane for removal, for example, if the owning passenger is not on board.The system can thus detect and locate luggage and baggage, or otherobjects, after it is in a vehicle equipped with an interrogator.

Another feature of some embodiments of the invention is the use of smartantennas and a single interrogator or reader for use in determining thelocation of an RFID device or object equipped therewith. The method andsystem can be designed and configured to use minimal energy to achievethis location-determination.

The RFID devices in any of the embodiments herein may utilize an RFIDswitch, or other technique, to limit transmissions especially once atransmission has been recorded. In this manner simultaneous andpotentially conflicting signals from multiple tags can be controlled.

Devices similar to RFID devices can be designed to transmit MIR(Micropower Impulse Radar) pulses for location purposes. Such pulses canbe coded to provide sensor and ID information. Such a system can providefor a longer range transmission and, due to the multiple frequenciesinvolved, can provide for greater penetration through surroundingobjects that might otherwise block a normal RFID signal. Such anMIR-based system can also operate at very low energy levels yieldingmany years of operation between battery charging or battery changing.Additionally, they are unexpected transmitters operating in a spreadspectrum mode and thus very difficult to jam. Such devices can be veryuseful for locating stolen trailers by drones etc. as discussed below.

In one embodiment, transmission via the antennas is based on thelocation of the antennas. Thus, the interrogator can control theantennas to transmit as a function of the location which is known to theinterrogator, or the processor which controls the interrogator. This canbe used to minimize signal overlap or collisions.

Since the best position to place antennas on a shipping container orframe of another asset including an interior, object-receiving space, isnot always known in advance, a process can be implemented to find thebest location for the antennas. This process may entail arranging alarge number of antennas on the asset and conducting tests todetermining the position of RFID devices in the space. Antennas areremoved in stages and more tests conducted until the optimum number andposition of antennas for the space which provides an acceptable accuracyis determined.

RFID devices can be used in combination with SAW devices and otherwireless sensors. Many sensors are now in vehicles and many more will beinstalled. The following disclosure is primarily concerned with wirelesssensors which can be based on MEMS, SAW and/or RFID technologies. Suchvehicle sensors include tire pressure, temperature and accelerationmonitoring sensors; weight or load measuring sensors; switches; vehicletemperature, acceleration, angular position, angular rate, angularacceleration sensors; proximity; rollover; occupant presence; humidity;presence of fluids or gases; strain; road condition and friction,chemical sensors and other similar sensors providing information to avehicle system, vehicle operator and/or external site. The sensors canprovide information about the vehicle and/or its interior and/orexterior environment, about individual components, systems, vehicleoccupants, subsystems, and/or about the roadway, ambient atmosphere,travel conditions and external objects. Any of this information can beuseful depending on the transportation mode, cargo, vehicle locationetc. for eliminating cargo theft, for example.

For wireless sensors, one or more interrogators can be used each havingone or more antennas that transmit energy at radio frequency, or otherelectromagnetic frequencies, to the sensors and receive modulatedfrequency signals from the sensors containing sensor and/oridentification information. One interrogator can be used for sensingmultiple switches, sensors or other devices. For example, aninterrogator may transmit a chirp form of energy at 905 MHz to 925 MHz,or alternately a series of one or more discrete frequencies, to avariety of sensors located within and/or in the vicinity of the vehicle.These sensors may be of the RFID electronic type and/or of the surfaceacoustic wave (SAW) type or a combination thereof. In the electronictype, information can be returned immediately to the interrogator in theform of a modulated backscatter RF signal. In the case of SAW devices,the information can be returned after a delay. RFID tags may alsoexhibit a delay due to the charging of the on tag energy storage device.One sensor can respond in both the electronic (either RFID orbackscatter) and SAW-delayed modes.

When multiple sensors are interrogated using the same technology, thereturned signals from the various sensors can be time, code, space orfrequency multiplexed. For example, for the case of the SAW technology,each sensor can be provided with a different delay or a different code.Alternately, each sensor can be designed to respond only to a singlefrequency or several frequencies. The radio frequency can be amplitude,code, pulse or frequency modulated. Space multiplexing can be achievedthrough the use of two or more antennas and correlating the receivedsignals to isolate signals based on direction.

In many cases, the sensors will respond with an identification signalfollowed by or preceded by information relating to the sensed value,state and/or property. In the case of a SAW-based or RFID-based switch,for example, the returned signal may indicate that the switch is eitheron or off. Alternately or additionally, an RFID based switch can beassociated with a sensor and turned on or off based on an identificationcode or a frequency sent from the interrogator permitting a particularsensor or class of sensors to be selected. An RFID based switch can beused to indicate that the trailer door is open or closed and/or thatthere is cargo loading some portion of the trailer floor, for example.

SAW devices have been used for sensing many parameters including devicesfor chemical and biological sensing and materials characterization inboth the gas and liquid phase. They also are used for measuringpressure, strain, temperature, acceleration, angular rate and otherphysical states of the trailer and/or environment. Wireless sensors canalso comprise MEMS devices that are capable of chemical and/orbiological sensing, for example. One such device includes an array ofbeams etched into a chip with the beams coated with a variety ofreactants that absorb various chemical and/or biological species.Typically, each beam has a different coating. The mass absorbed by thereactants varies the natural frequency of a beam which can then besensed periodically when the beams on the MEMS device are excitedelectrically. The pattern of frequency changes allows the determinationof the presence and/or concentration of the chemical and/or biologicalspecies. Such a device has been used, for example, to determine thechemical make-up a perfume. Such a device has applicability tomonitoring of vehicles, and specifically compartments or interior spacestherein, to determine the presence of various chemical or biologicalspecies and thus warn authorities that a shipping container containssuch species, for example. Within a tractor, such a device can be usedto test for carbon monoxide or alcohol vapors in the cabin air, forexample. Within a cargo compartment such a device can detect for carbondioxide indicative of the presence of an unexpected person or otheranimal. Such a device can communicate with a controller either by wiresor wirelessly and on to a remote site.

Economies are achieved by using a single interrogator or even a smallnumber of interrogators to interrogate many types of devices. Forexample, a single interrogator may monitor tire pressure andtemperature, the weight of an occupying item of the seat, the positionof the seat and seatback, the weight of cargo in a portion of thetrailer, as well as a variety of switches. Such an interrogator may useone or multiple antennas and when multiple antennas are used, may switchbetween the antennas depending on what is being monitored.

Similarly, the same or a different interrogator can be used to monitorvarious components of the vehicle's safety system, vehicle accelerationsensors, vehicle angular position, velocity and acceleration sensors,related to both frontal, side and/or rear impacts as well as rolloverconditions. The interrogator could also be used in conjunction withother detection devices such as weight sensors, temperature sensors,accelerometers which are associated with various systems in the vehicleto enable such systems to be controlled or affected based on themeasured state.

Some specific examples of the use of interrogators and responsivedevices will now be described.

The antennas used for interrogating the vehicle tire pressuretransducers can be located outside of the vehicle passenger compartment.For many other transducers to be sensed the antennas can be located atvarious positions within passenger compartment or trailer. At least oneinvention herein contemplates, therefore, a series of different antennasystems, which can be electronically switched by the interrogatorcircuitry. Alternately, in some cases, all of the antennas can be leftconnected and total transmitted power increased.

There are several applications for weight or load measuring devices in avehicle including the vehicle suspension system and seat weight sensorsfor use with automobile safety systems or unauthorized occupant presencedetectors. As described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,096,740, 4,623,813,5,585,571, 5,663,531, 5,821,425 and 5,910,647 and InternationalPublication No. WO 00/65320(A1), SAW devices are appropriate candidatesfor such weight measurement systems, although in some cases RFID systemscan also be used with an associated sensor such as a strain gage. Inthis case, the surface acoustic wave on the lithium niobate, or otherpiezoelectric material, is modified in delay time, resonant frequency,amplitude and/or phase based on strain of the member upon which the SAWdevice is mounted. For example, the conventional bolt that is typicallyused to connect the passenger seat to the seat adjustment slidemechanism can be replaced with a stud which is threaded on both ends. ASAW or other strain device can be mounted to the center unthreadedsection of the stud and the stud can be attached to both the seat andthe slide mechanism using appropriate threaded nuts. Based on theparticular geometry of the SAW device used, the stud can result in aslittle as a 3 mm upward displacement of the seat compared to a normalbolt mounting system. No wires are required to attach the SAW device tothe stud other than for an antenna.

Generally, there is an RFID implementation, which may contain anassociated sensor that corresponds to each SAW implementation.Therefore, where SAW is used herein the equivalent RFID design will alsobe meant where appropriate.

Although a preferred method for using the invention is to interrogateeach SAW device using wireless mechanisms, in some cases, it may bedesirable to supply power to and/or obtain information from one or moreof the SAW devices using wires. As such, the wires would be an optionalfeature.

There are many applications for weight sensors as described herein tothe transportation of cargo and the prevention of theft. If anunauthorized person resides within the tractor, for example, a hijackingmay be in progress. Other applications of weight measuring systems for atruck tractor and trailer include measuring the weight of the fuel tankor other containers of fluid to determine the quantity of fluidcontained therein as discussed below and/or of the cargo itself.

Devices based on RFID or SAW technology can be used as switches in avehicle as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,078,252, 6,144,288 and6,748,797. There are many ways that this can be accomplished. A switchcan be used to connect an antenna to either an RFID electronic device orto a SAW device. This requires contacts to be closed by the switchactivation. An alternate approach is to use pressure from an occupant'sfinger, for example, to alter the properties of the acoustic wave on theSAW material much as in a SAW touch screen. The properties that can bemodified include the amplitude of the acoustic wave, and its phase,and/or the time delay or an external impedance connected to one of theSAW reflectors as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,084,503. In thisimplementation, the SAW transducer can contain two sections, one whichis modified by the occupant and the other which serves as a reference. Acombined signal is sent to the interrogator that decodes the signal todetermine that the switch has been activated. By any of thesetechnologies, switches can be arbitrarily placed within the interior ofa tractor and trailer to measure cargo presence and door or otheropening status, for example, without the need for wires. Since wires andconnectors are the cause of most warranty repairs in an automobile, notonly is the cost of switches substantially reduced but also thereliability of the vehicle electrical system is substantially improved.

The interrogation of switches can take place with moderate frequencysuch as once every 100 milliseconds. Either through the use of differentfrequencies or different delays, a large number of switches can be time,code, space and/or frequency multiplexed to permit separation of thesignals obtained by the interrogator. Alternately, an RF activatedswitch on some or all of the sensors can be used as discussed elsewhereherein.

Temperature measurement is another field in which SAW technology can beapplied and the invention encompasses several embodiments of SAWtemperature sensors.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,249,418 is one of many examples of prior art SAWtemperature sensors. Temperature sensors are commonly used withinvehicles and many more applications might exist if a low cost wirelesstemperature sensor is available such as disclosed herein. The SAWtechnology can be used for such temperature sensing tasks. These tasksinclude measuring the vehicle coolant temperature, air temperaturewithin passenger compartment or trailer at multiple locations, seattemperature for use in conjunction with seat warming and coolingsystems, outside temperatures and perhaps tire surface temperatures toprovide early warning to operators of road freezing conditions. Oneexample, is to provide air temperature sensors in the compartment in thevicinity of ultrasonic transducers used in cargo sensing systems asdescribed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,629,899, and 7,663,502, since the speed ofsound in the air varies by approximately 20% from −40° C. to 85° C.Current ultrasonic cargo sensor systems may not measure or compensatefor this change in the speed of sound with the effect of reducing theaccuracy of the systems at the temperature extremes. Through thejudicious placement of SAW temperature sensors in the vehicle, thetrailer air temperature can be accurately estimated and the informationprovided wirelessly to the ultrasonic sensor system thereby permittingcorrections to be made for the change in the speed of sound.

Since the road can be either a source or a sink of thermal energy,strategically placed sensors that measure the surface temperature of atire can also be used to provide an estimate of road temperature.

An alternate method to the electronic RFID tag is to simply use a radaror lidar reflector and measure the time-of-flight to the reflector andback. The reflector can even be made of a series of reflecting surfacesdisplaced from each other to achieve some simple coding. It should beunderstood that RFID antennas can be similarly configured. Animprovement would be to polarize the radiation and use a reflector thatrotates the polarization angle, known as a dihedral reflector, allowingthe reflector to be more easily found among other reflecting objects.

FIG. 11 illustrates a tractor passenger compartment and trailer withmultiple SAW or RFID temperature sensors 85. SAW temperature sensors canbe distributed throughout the compartment and trailer as shown. Thesesensors, which can be independently coded with different IDs and/ordifferent delays, can provide an accurate measurement of the temperaturedistribution within the vehicle and trailer interior. RFID switches canalso be used to isolate one device from another. Such a system can beused to monitor the temperature at various parts of the tractor andtrailer and to sound an alarm if the temperature anywhere exceeds presetlimits. If the cargo sensor system is based on ultrasonics, then thetemperature measurement system can be used to correct the ultrasoniccargo sensor system for the speed of sound within the trailer. Withoutsuch a correction, the error in the sensing system can be as large asabout 20 percent. This similarly applies if ultrasonic occupant sensorsare used within either the tractor or trailer.

The wired or wireless temperature or other sensors 85 provide thetemperature and/or other measurements at their mounting location to oneor more processors 83 via an interrogator or wires with the processorunit 83 including appropriate control algorithms for controlling theheating and air conditioning system, for example, or for creating asignal if the temperature exceeds certain present limits based on thedetected temperatures. The processor units 83 can control, e.g., whichvents in the vehicle are open and closed, the flow rate through ventsand the temperature of air passing through the vents. In general, theprocessor unit 83 can control whatever adjustable components are presentor form part of the heating and air conditioning system, create an alarmor notify a remote site.

All of the elements of the system which adjusts or controls the vehiclecomponents in any of the embodiments described herein, i.e., thesensors, processing unit and reactive system which is controlled by theprocessing unit based on the data sensed by the sensors, can be arrangedwithin the vehicle. They could be fixed to the frame of the vehicle,and/or arranged in an interior defined by the frame, with the sensorassemblies (the sensor and wireless transmission component or wiresassociated therewith) fixed relative to the processor unit or receiverwhich can contain the antenna capable of receiving the signals beingtransmitted wirelessly from the wireless transmission component of thesensor assemblies. In some embodiments, the sensor assemblies arearranged on parts of the vehicle which are not fixed to the frame orfixed relative to the processor unit or receiver, such as on the tires,but in other embodiments, the sensor assemblies are arranged only onparts fixed to the frame. This fixed relationship between the sensorassemblies and the receiver(s) associated with the processing unitallows for proper positioning of the receivers to communicate with alldesignated sensor assemblies.

In FIG. 11, a cargo item 87 is illustrated in the trailer. The cargoitem 87 can have one or more attached RFID tags or SAW tags 88. The RFIDand SAW tag(s) can be constructed to provide information particular tothe cargo item including ID, temperature, and/or any other measurableparameter. Also, the mere transmission of waves from the RFID or SAWtag(s) on the cargo item 87 would be indicative of the presence of theitem of cargo. The RFID and SAW tag(s) can also be constructed toprovide information about the location or orientation of the cargo item87. Such information about the presence of the cargo item and itslocation or orientation can be used in the control of security systems,the heating or air conditioning system, and other systems within thevehicle.

FIG. 12 illustrates the placement of a variety of sensors, primarilyaccelerometers and/or gyroscopes, which can be used to diagnose thestate of the tractor and trailer itself. Sensor 105 can be located inthe side door. Typically, there can be two such sensors one on eitherside of the vehicle. Sensor 106 is shown mounted in the trailer and canbe an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) typically containing threeaccelerometers and three MEMS gyroscopes. It will monitor the state ofthe trailer independent of the tractor. Sensor 107 is shown in a typicalmounting location in the compartment on the firewall or tunnel and isthe non-crush zone mounted crash sensor. It also can have multipleaccelerometers or gyroscopes and can be an IMU. Sensor 108, which can bealso multiple sensors, is shown in a typical mounting location forwardin the crush zone of the vehicle. An IMU would serve basically the samefunctions at lower installation cost.

In general, sensors 105-108 provide a measurement of the state of thetractor and trailer, such as its velocity, acceleration, angularorientation or temperature, or a state of the location at which thesensor is mounted. Thus, measurements related to the state of the sensorwould include measurements of the acceleration of the sensor,measurements of the temperature of the mounting location as well aschanges in the state of the sensor and rates of changes of the state ofthe sensor. As such, any described use or function of the sensors105-108 above is merely exemplary and is not intended to limit the formof the sensor or its function. Thus, these sensors may or may not be SAWor RFID sensors and may be powered or unpowered and may transmit theirinformation through a wire harness, a safety or other bus or wirelessly.

Each sensor 105-108 may be single axis, double axis or triaxialaccelerometers and/or gyroscopes typically of the MEMS type. One or morecan be IMUs. These sensors 105-108 can either be wired to the centralcontrol module or processor directly wherein they would receive powerand transmit information, or they could be connected onto the vehiclebus or, in some cases, using RFID, SAW or similar technology, thesensors can be wireless and would receive their power through RF fromone or more interrogators located in the vehicle. In this case, theinterrogators can be connected either to the vehicle bus or directly tocontrol module. Alternately, an inductive or capacitive power and/orinformation transfer system can be used.

A general system for obtaining information about a vehicle or acomponent thereof or therein is illustrated in FIG. 17 and includesmultiple sensors 627 which may be arranged at specific locations on thevehicle, on specific components of the vehicle, on objects temporarilyplaced in the vehicle such as cargo pallets, or on or in any otherobject in or on the vehicle or in its vicinity about which informationis desired. The sensors 627 may be passive or active SAW or RFID sensorsor other sensors which generate a return signal upon the detection of atransmitted radio frequency signal. A single multi-element antenna array622 is mounted on the vehicle, in either a central location or in anoffset location, to provide the radio frequency signals which cause thesensors 627 to generate the return signals. In either case, the antennaarray 622 is mounted between the sides of the vehicle and includes atleast one antenna element directed to each side in order that theantenna array 622 is able to communicate with sensors 627 on both sidesof the vehicle, i.e., the right and left sides of the vehicle. Thus, thesingle antenna array 622 mounted between the sides of the vehicle isable to communicate with sensors throughout the vehicle, including onboth sides of the vehicle.

A control system 628 is coupled to the antenna array 622 and controlsthe antennas in the array 622 to be operative as necessary to enablereception of return signals from the sensors 627. There are several waysfor the control system 628 to control the array 622, including to causethe antennas to be alternately switched on in order to sequentiallytransmit the RF signals therefrom and receive the return signals fromthe sensors 627 and to cause the antennas to transmit the RF signalssimultaneously and space the return signals from the sensors 627 via adelay line in circuitry from each antennas such that each return signalis spaced in time in a known manner without requiring switching of theantennas. The control system can also be used to control a smart antennaarray.

The control system 628 also processes the return signals to provideinformation about the vehicle or the component or cargo. The processingof the return signals can be any known processing including the use ofpattern recognition techniques, neural networks, fuzzy systems and thelike.

The antenna array 622 and control system 628 can be housed in a commonantenna array housing 630.

Once the information about the vehicle or the component is known, it isdirected to a display/telematics/adjustment unit or processor 629 wherethe information can be displayed on a display 629 to the driver, sent toa remote location for analysis via a telematics unit 629 and/or used tocontrol or adjust a component on, in or near the vehicle. Theinformation can be processed by a processor on the trailer or tractorprior to transmission to a remote site and the transmitted message canbe short and coded that there have or have not been events that mayconcern the security of the cargo. The message can be sent as a textmessage such as by SMS or equivalent. The principles and devicesdisclosed can be applied to the monitoring of a wide variety ofcomponents on and off a vehicle and the vehicle is taken in the mostgeneral sense and can be of any of the types listed above.

In summary, the use of devices capable of reading or scanning RFIDdevices when situated in compartments or spaces defined by vehicles orother mobile assets provides significant advantages. Among other things,it allows for the determination of the identification and location ofthe RFID devices and thus objects equipped with such RFID devices, andwith a communications or telematics unit coupled to the interrogator, itallows for communication of that information off of the vehicle, i.e.,to one or more remote sites. The overall system identifies the RFIDdevice if it generates a unique identification code, which is usuallythe case, and thus can generate a transmission to the remote sitecontaining an identification of an object in a space of a mobile asset.Most importantly the transmission can contain information about thesecurity of the cargo, of an item of cargo or of the entire shipment.With the foregoing system, it is possible at the remote site to locateand monitor the RFID-equipped object.

Alternative to or in addition to the communication to a remote site, theinterrogator could transmit or otherwise provide the signal with anidentification of the object to another system on the vehicle itself. Inthis manner, someone looking for an RFID-equipped object in a spacecould easily determine its location, such as a package delivery driverlooking for a specific package in a truck or an airline worker lookingfor a specific passenger's luggage. This is particularly important whenthe theft of a particular item is of concern and the item is small butvaluable.

Referring now to FIGS. 18-21, additional aspects of the monitoring ofinterior contents of a shipping container, trailer, boat, plane, etc.will now be described. Generally, these contents can be removed from thevehicle and thus are usually not directly attached to a frame of thevehicle which defines the object-containing interior. Such a frame mayhave the form of a truck, a truck trailer, a shipping container, a boator ship, an airplane or another vehicle.

Consider now as a non-limiting example a standard shipping containerthat is used for shipping cargo by boat, trailer, or railroad, suchcargo being usually inanimate, i.e., not alive. Such containers arenominally 8′w×8′h×20′ or 40′ long outside dimensions, however, acontainer 48′ in length is also sometimes used. The inside dimensionsare frequently around 4″ less than the outside dimensions. In a simpleinterior container monitoring system, one or more ultrasonic transducerscan be mounted on an interior part of the container adjacent thecontainer's ceiling in a protective housing. Periodically, theultrasonic transducers can emit a few cycles of ultrasound and receivereflected echoes of this ultrasound from walls and contents of thetrailer. In some cases, especially for long containers, one or moretransducers, typically at one end of the container, can send to one ormore transducers located at, for example, the opposite end. Usually,however, the transmitters and receivers are located near each other andfrequently the same devices are used to both transmit and receive. Dueto the long distance that the ultrasound waves must travel especially inthe 48 foot container, it is frequently desirable to repeat the send andreceive sequence several times and to add or average the results. Thishas the effect of improving the signal to noise ratio. Note that thesystem disclosed herein and in the related patents and applications isable to achieve such long sensing distances due to the principlesdisclosed in those related patent. Competitive systems that are nowbeginning to enter the market have much shorter sensing distances andthus a key invention herein is the ability to achieve sensing distancesin excess of 20 feet.

Note that in many cases several transducers are used for monitoring thevehicle such as a container that typically point in slightly differentdirections. This need not be the case and a movable mounting is alsocontemplated where the motion is accomplished by any convenient methodsuch as a motor, etc.

Referring to FIG. 18, a container 480 is shown including an interiorsensor system 481 arranged to obtain information about contents in theinterior of the container 480. The interior sensor system includes awave transmitter 482 mounted at one end of the container 480 and whichoperatively transmits waves into the interior of the container 480 and awave receiver 483 mounted adjacent the wave transmitter 482 and whichoperatively receives waves from the interior of the container 480. Forthe purposes of this discussion these waves can be eitherelectromagnetic or ultrasonic. As shown, the transmitter 482 andreceiver 483 are adjacent one another but such a positioning is notintended to limit the invention. The transmitter 482 and receiver 483can be formed as a single transducer or may be spaced apart from oneanother. Multiple pairs of transmitter/receivers can also be provided,for example transmitter 482′ and receiver 483′ are located at anopposite end of the container 480 proximate the doors 484.

The interior sensor system 481 includes a processor coupled to thereceiver 483, and optionally the transmitter 482, and which is residenton the container 480, for example, in the housing of the receiver 483 orin the housing of a communication system 485. The processor isprogrammed to compare waves received by each receiver 483, 483′ atdifferent times and analyze either the received waves individually orthe received waves in comparison to or in relation to other receivedwaves for the purpose of providing information about the contents in theinterior of the container 480. The processor can employ patternrecognition techniques and, as discussed more fully below and in thepatents referenced above, be designed to compensate for thermalgradients in the interior of the container 480. Information about thecontents of the container 480 may comprise the presence or motion ofobjects in the interior. The processor may be associated with a memoryunit which can store data on the location of the container 480 and theanalysis of the data from the interior sensor system 481.

A cargo sensor based optics can be used in place of the system based onultrasonics that has been described. Such a cargo sensor can take avariety of forms such as an imager coupled with appropriate softwarethat is capable of segmenting items in images and identifying thecontents within the container. In addition to this classificationfunction, the image processing system can identify optical indices suchas barcodes or other markings and interpret the codes into anidentification of the item, for example. In addition to sensing thecargo status of the container, both the ultrasonic and optical systemscan monitor for changes in the contents of the container or of variousitems of cargo within the container.

The container 480 also includes a location determining system 486 whichmonitors the location of the container 480. To this end, the locationdetermining system can be any asset locator in the prior art, whichtypically include a GPS receiver, transmitter and appropriate electronichardware and software to enable the position of the container 480 to bedetermined using GPS technology or other satellite or ground-basedtechnology including those using the cell phone system or similarlocation based systems.

The communication system 485 is coupled to both the interior sensorsystem 481 and the location determining system 486 and transmits theinformation about the contents in the interior of the container 480(obtained from the interior sensor system 481) and the location of thecontainer 480 (obtained from the location determining system 486). Thistransmission may be to a remote facility wherein the information aboutthe container 480 is stored, processed, counted, reviewed and/ormonitored and/or retransmitted to another location, perhaps by way ofthe Internet, when a theft is determined to be occurring or hasoccurred, for example.

The container 480 can also include a door status sensor 487 arranged todetect when one or both doors 484 is/are opened or closed after havingbeen opened. The door status sensor 487 may be an ultrasonic sensorwhich is positioned a fixed distance from the doors 484 and registerschanges in the position of the doors 484. Alternately, other door statussystems can be used such as those based on optical imagers, switches,magnetic sensors, light sensors or other technologies. The door statussensor 487 can be programmed to associate an increase in the distancebetween the sensor 487 and each of the doors 484 and a subsequentdecrease in the distance between the sensor 487 and that door 484 as anopening and subsequent closing of that door 484. In the alternative, alatching device can be provided to detect latching of each door 484 uponits closure. The door status sensor 487 can be coupled to the interiorsensor system 481, or at least to the transmitters 482,482′ so that thetransmitters 482,482′ can be designed to transmit waves into theinterior, or impose a variable electric field therein, of the container480 only when the door status sensor 487 detects, for example, when atleast one door 484 is closed after having been opened. For otherpurposes, the ultrasonic or optical sensors may be activated on openingof the door(s), or by any of a variety of intrusion sensors, in order tomonitor the movement of objects into or out of the container, whichmight in turn be used to activate an RFID or bar code reading system orother object identification system. Thus, the interior sensor system 481may be initiated to obtain information about the contents in theinterior of the container 480 as a function of the status or movement ofthe door 484 or of any sensor which indicates that intrusion into thecargo space has occurred.

When the ultrasonic transducers, electric field, or optical sensors, arefirst installed into the container 480 and the doors 484 closed, aninitial pulse transmission can be initiated and the received signalstored to provide stored data that is representative of an emptycontainer. To initiate the pulse transmission, an initiation device orfunction is provided in the interior sensor system 481, e.g., the doorstatus sensor 487. At a subsequent time when contents have been added tothe container (as possibly reflected in the opening and closing of thedoors 484 as detected by the door status sensor 487), the ultrasonictransducers can be commanded to again issue a few cycles of ultrasoundand record the reflections. If the second pattern is subtracted from thefirst pattern, or otherwise compared, in the processor the existence ofadditional contents in the container 480 will cause the signal tochange, which thus causes the differential signal to change and theadded contents detected. In an ultrasonic system a vector of data istypically obtained for each cycle. Vector as used herein with ultrasonicsystems will generally mean a linear array of data values obtained byrectifying, taking the envelope and digitizing the returned signal asreceived by the transducer or other digital representation comprising atleast a part of the returned signal. A similar system can be used whenan optical or electric field system is used.

Another use of the door status sensor 487 is to cause storage of dataabout the contents in the container 480 as a function of opening andclosing of the doors 484. Thus, the memory unit would store dataindicating each time the doors 484 are opened and closed, or anotherintrusion was detected, and the contents of the container 480 before andafter each opening and closing. This will provide information about theloading and unloading of the contents from the container 480. Data aboutthe contents of the container 480 may be obtained in any of the waysdescribed herein, including using sensor systems 491 placed on eachobject in the interior of the container 480.

When a container 480 is exposed to sunlight on its exterior top, astable thermal gradient can occur inside the container 480 where the topof the container 480 near the ceiling is at a significantly highertemperature than the bottom of the container 480. This thermal gradientchanges the density of the gas inside the container causing it to act asa lens to ultrasound that diffracts or bends the ultrasonic waves andcan significantly affect the signals sensed by the receiver portions483,483′ of the transducers. Thus, the vector of sensed data when thecontainer is at a single uniform temperature will look significantlydifferent from the vector of sensed data acquired within the samecontainer when thermal gradients are present.

It is even possible for currents of heated air to occur within acontainer 480 if a side of the container is exposed to sunlight, forexample. Since these thermal gradients can substantially affect thevector, the system must be examined under a large variety of differentthermal environments. This generally requires that the electronics bedesigned to mask somewhat the effects of the thermal gradients on themagnitude of the sensed waves while maintaining the positions of thesewaves in time. This can be accomplished as described in above-referencedpatents and patent applications through the use, for example, of alogarithmic compression circuit. There are other methods of minimizingthe effect on the reflected wave magnitudes that will accomplishsubstantially the same result some of which are disclosed elsewhereherein.

When the complicating aspects of thermal gradients are taken intoaccount when using an ultrasonic cargo monitoring system, a great dealof data must in many cases be taken with a large number of differentoccupancy situations to create a database of perhaps 10,000 to onemillion vectors each representing the different occupancy state of thecontainer in a variety of thermal environments. This data can then beused to train a pattern recognition system such as a neural network,modular or combination neural network, cellular neural network, supportvector machine, fuzzy logic system, Kalman filter system, sensor fusionsystem, data fusion system or other classification system. Since allcontainers of the type transported by ships, for example, are ofstandard sizes, only a few of these training exercises need to beconducted, typically one for each different geometry container. Theprocess of adapting an ultrasonic occupancy monitoring system to acontainer or other space is described for automobile interior monitoringin above-referenced patents and patent applications, and therefore thisprocess is not repeated here.

Other kinds of interior monitoring systems can be used to determine andcharacterize the contents of a space such as a container. One exampleuses a scanner and photocell 488, as in a laser radar system, and can bemounted near the floor of the container 480 and operated to scan thespace above the floor in a plane located, for example, 10 cm above thefloor. Since the distance to a reflecting wall of the container 480 canbe determined and recorded for each angular position of the scanner, thedistance to any occupying item will show up as a reflection from anobject closer to the scanner and therefore a shadow graph of thecontents of the container 10 cm above the floor can be obtained and usedto partially categorize the contents of the container 480.Categorization of the contents of the container 480 may involve the useof pattern recognition technologies. Other locations of such a scanningsystem are of course possible.

In both of these examples, relatively little can be learned about thecontents of the container other than that something is present or thatthe container is empty. Frequently, this is all that is required. A moresophisticated system can make use of one or more imagers (for examplecameras) 489 mounted near the ceiling of the container, for example.Such imagers can be provided with a strobe flash and then commanded tomake an image of the trailer interior at appropriate times. The outputfrom such an imager 489 can also be analyzed by a pattern recognitionsystem such as a neural network or equivalent, to reduce the informationto a few bytes that can be sent to a central location via an LEO orgeostationary satellite, the Internet, or cell phone network with orwithout an SMS or GPRS or equivalent system for example. As with theabove ultrasonic example, one image can be subtracted from the emptycontainer image and if anything remains then that is a representation ofthe contents that have been placed in the container. Also, variousimages can be subtracted to determine the changes in container contentswhen the doors are opened and material is added or removed or todetermine changes in position of the contents. Various derivatives ofthis information can be extracted and sent by the telematics system tothe appropriate location for monitoring or other purposes.

Each of the systems mentioned above can also be used to determinewhether there is motion of objects within the container relative to thecontainer. Motion of objects within the container 480 would be reflectedas differences between the waves received by the transducers (indicativeof differences in distances between the transducer and the objects inthe container) or images (indicative of differences between the positionof objects in the images). Such motion can also aid in imagesegmentation which in turn can aid in the object identification process.This is particularly valuable if the container is occupied by life formssuch as humans.

In the system of FIG. 18, wires (not shown) are used to connect thevarious sensors and devices. It is contemplated that all of the units inthe monitoring system can be coupled together wirelessly, using forexample the Bluetooth, WI-FI, Wibree or other protocol. See Hunn, Nick“An Introduction to Wibree”, EZURiO Ltd. Thus, any type or form ofwired, wireless or combination network can be used to connect thesensors and other parts of the monitoring arrangement together on theasset.

If an inertial device 490 is also incorporated, such as the MEMSIC dualaxis accelerometer, which provides information as to the accelerationsof the container 480, then this relative motion can be determined by theprocessor and it can be ascertained whether this relative motion iscaused by acceleration of the container 480, which may indicate loosecargo, and/or whether the motion is caused by the sensed occupying item.In latter case, a conclusion can perhaps be reached that container isoccupied by a life form such as an animal or human.

Additionally, it may be desirable to place sensors on an item of cargoitself since damage to the cargo could occur from excessiveacceleration, shock, temperature, vibration, etc. regardless of whetherthe same stimulus was experienced by the entire container. A loose itemof cargo, for example, may be impacting the monitored item of cargo anddamaging it. Thus, any of the sensors described herein, e.g., chemicalsensors, motion sensors and the like, can be placed on each or any itemof cargo or object and connected by wires or wirelessly to a receivingunit which receives data obtained by such object-mounted sensors. Dataobtained from the sensors may be communicated to a remote facility.Also, the obtaining of the data can be done periodically or triggered byany of the triggers described for obtaining data via the asset-mountedsensor systems. In some cases a sensor system on the cargo item itselfcan communicate directly to a remote site when a container residentsystem is not present or compromised.

Relative motion can also be sensed in some cases from outside of thecontainer through the use of accelerometers, microphones or MIR(Micropower Impulse Radar). Note that all such sensors regardless ofwhere they are placed are contemplated herein and are part of thepresent inventions.

Chemical sensors 491 based on surface acoustic wave (SAW), MEMS or othertechnology can in many cases be designed to sense the presence ofcertain vapors in the atmosphere and can do so at very low power. Aproperly designed SAW or equivalent sensing device, for example, canmeasure acceleration, angular rate, strain, temperature, pressure,carbon dioxide concentration, humidity, hydrocarbon concentration, andthe presence or concentration of many other chemicals or biologicalagents. A separate SAW or similar device may be needed for each chemicalspecies (or in some cases each class of chemicals) where detection isdesired. The devices, however, can be quite small and can be designed touse very little power. Such a system of SAW or equivalent devices can beused to measure the existence of certain chemical vapors in theatmosphere of the container, or the atmosphere around an object in theinterior of a container, much like a low power electronic nose. In somecases, it can be used to determine whether a carbon dioxide source suchas a human is in the container, or in the object. Such chemical sensingdevices can also be designed, for example, to monitor for many otherchemicals including some narcotics, hydrocarbons, mercury vapor, andother hazardous chemicals including some representative vapors ofexplosives or some weapons of mass destruction. With additionalresearch, SAW or similar devices can also be designed or augmented tosense the presence of radioactive materials, and perhaps some biologicalmaterials such as smallpox or anthrax. In many cases, such SAW devicesdo not now exist, however, researchers believe that given the propermotivation that such devices can be developed. Thus, although heretoforenot appreciated, SAW, MEMS or equivalent based systems can monitor agreat many dangerous and hazardous materials that may be either legallyor illegally occupying space within a container, for example. Inparticular, the existence of spills or leakages from the cargo can bedetected in time to perhaps save damage to other cargo either within thecontainer or in an adjacent container. Although SAW devices have inparticular been described, other low power devices using battery or RFpower can also be used where necessary. Note, the use of any of theaforementioned SAW devices in connection within or on a vehicle for anypurpose other than tire pressure and temperature monitoring or torquemonitoring is new and contemplated by the inventions disclosed herein.Only a small number of examples are presented of the general applicationof the SAW, MEMS, or RFID, technology to vehicles.

Other sensors that can be designed to operate under very low powerlevels include microphones 492 and light sensors 493 or sensorssensitive to other frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum orelectric field sensors as the need arises. The light sensors 493 can bedesigned to cause activation of the interior sensor system 481 when thecontainer is being switched from a dark condition (normally closed) to alight situation (when the door or other aperture is opened). Aflashlight could also activate the light sensor 493.

Instead of one or more batteries or a tether to an external sourceproviding power to the interior sensor system 481, the communicationsystem 485 and the location determining system 486, solar power can beused. In this case, one or more solar panels 494 are attached to theupper wall of the container 480 (see FIG. 9) and electrically coupled tothe various power-requiring components of the monitoring system. Abattery can thus be eliminated or recharged. Since the solar panel(s)109 will not always be exposed to sunlight, a rechargeable battery canbe provided which is charged by the solar panel 109 when the solarpanels are exposed to sunlight. A battery could also be provided in theevent that the solar panel 109 does not receive sufficient light topower the components of the monitoring system. In a similar manner,power can temporarily be supplied by a vehicle such as a tractor eitherby a direct connection to the tractor power or through capacitive,inductive or RF coupling power transmission systems. As above anultracapacitor can be used instead of, or in addition to, a battery andenergy harvesting can be used if there is a source of energy such aslight or vibration in the environment. It is also possible to use a windturbine that is driven when the vehicle is in motion as an energyharvesting system.

In some cases, a container is thought to be empty when in fact it isbeing surreptitiously used for purposes beyond the desires of thecontainer owner or law enforcement authorities. The various transducersthat can be used to monitor interior of a container as described above,plus others, can also be used to allow the trailer or container owner toperiodically monitor the use of his property.

Immediately above, monitoring of the interior of the container isdescribed. If the container is idle and in a secure area or empty, theremay not the need to frequently monitor the status of the containerinterior or exterior until some event happens. Thus, all monitoringsystems on the container can be placed in the sleep mode until someevent such as a motion or vibration of the container or light inside thecontainer is sensed. Other wakeup events could include the opening ofthe doors, the sensing of sound or a change in the interior temperatureof the container or a chamber within the container above a referencelevel, for example. When any of these chosen events occurs, the systemcan be instructed to change the monitoring rate and to immediatelytransmit a signal to a satellite, SMS or another communication system,or respond to a SMS or satellite-initiated signal for some LEO-based, orgeocentric or cell phone systems, for example. Such an event may signalto the container owner that a robbery was in progress either of theinterior contents of the container or of the entire container. It alsomight signal that the contents of the container are in danger of beingdestroyed through temperature or excessive motion or that the containeris being misappropriated for some unauthorized use. Care must beexercised when relying on an event to activate the monitoring systemsince a thief can disable the communication system if it is discovered.If the thief suspects that such a system is present then he can shieldor jam the transmitting frequencies and thus render the communicationsystem ineffectual. For this reason a system that operates on theabsence of a received transmission, as discussed below, is preferred.

FIG. 19 shows a flowchart of the manner in which container 480 may bemonitored by personnel or a computer program at a remote facility forthe purpose of detecting unauthorized entry into the container andpossible theft of the contents of the container 480. Initially, thewakeup sensor 495 detects motion, sound, light or vibration includingmotion of the doors 484, or any other change of the condition of thecontainer 480 from a stationary or expected position. The wakeup sensor495 can be designed to provide a signal indicative of motion only aftera fixed time delay, i.e., a period of “sleep”. In this manner, thewakeup sensor would not be activated repeatedly in traffic stop and gosituations.

The wakeup sensor 495 initiates the interior sensor system 481 toperform the analysis of the contents in the interior of the container,e.g., send waves into the interior, receive waves and then process thereceived waves. If motion in the interior of the container is notdetected at 496, then the interior sensor system 481 may be designed tocontinue to monitor the interior of the container, for example, byperiodically re-sending waves into the interior of the container. Ifmotion is detected at 496, then a signal is sent at 497, such as by SMSor equivalent, to a monitoring facility via the communication system 485and which includes the location of the container 480 obtained from thelocation determining system 486 or by the ID for a permanently fixedcontainer or other asset, structure or storage facility. In this manner,if the motion is determined to deviate from the expected handling of thecontainer 480, appropriate law enforcement personnel can be summoned toinvestigate as discussed in more detail elsewhere herein.

When it is known and expected that the container should be in motion,monitoring of this motion can still be important. An unexpectedvibration could signal the start of a failure of the chassis tire, forexample, or failure of the attachment to the chassis or the attachmentof the chassis to the tractor. Similarly, an unexpected tilt angle ofthe container may signify a dangerous situation that could lead to arollover accident and an unexpected shock could indicate an accident hasoccurred. Various sensors that can be used to monitor the motion of thecontainer include gyroscopes, accelerometers and tilt sensors. An IMU(Inertial Measurement Unit) containing for example three accelerometersand three gyroscopes can be used and if combined with a GPS receiverusing a Kalman filter the device can be quite accurate. Any of thesedetected events can also signal that a hijacking is in progress.

In some cases, the container or the chassis can be provided with weightsensors that measure the total weight of the cargo as well as thedistribution of weight. By monitoring changes in the weight distributionas the vehicle is traveling, an indication can result that the contentswithin the trailer are shifting which could cause damage to the cargo.An alternate method is to put weight sensors in the floor or as a mat onthe floor of the vehicle. The mat design can use the bladder principlesdescribed above for weighing vehicle occupants using, in most cases,multiple chambers. Strain gages can also be configured to measure theweight of container contents. An alternate approach is to use inertialsensors such as accelerometers and gyroscopes to measure the motion ofthe vehicle as it travels. If the characteristics of the inputaccelerations (linear and angular) are known from a map, for example, orby measuring them on the chassis then the inertial properties of thecontainer can be determined and thus the load that the containercontains. This is an alternate method of determining the contents of acontainer. If several (usually 3) accelerometers and several (usually 3)gyroscopes are used together in a single package then this is known asan inertial measurement unit. If a source of position is also known suchas from a GPS system then the errors inherent in the IMU can becorrected using a Kalman filter. The use of inertial or weight sensorscan also indicate that a theft is underway if there are unexpectedchanges to the weight or weight distribution or accelerations indicativeof motion of the container when the container is parked.

Other container and chassis monitoring can include the attachment of atrailer to a tractor, the attachment of electrical and/or communicationconnections, and the status of the doors to the container. If the doorsare opened when this is not expected, this could be an indication of acriminal activity underway. Several types of security seals areavailable including reusable seals that indicate when the door is openor closed or if it was ever opened during transit, or single use sealsthat are destroyed during the process of opening the container. Usuallywhen that is discovered it is too late and the theft has occurred. Doorlocks that require an electronic signal from a hand held transmitter tooperate that are positioned inside of the trailer are effectivedeterrents to prevent a thief from stealing cargo from a trailer but donot stop the theft of the trailer itself. Once the thief has the trailerin his facility these locking systems are easily defeated.

Referring now to FIG. 20C, another application of monitoring the entireasset is to incorporate a diagnostic module 472 into the asset.Frequently, the asset may have operating parts, e.g., if it is arefrigerated and contains a refrigeration unit 470. To this end, sensors474, e.g., temperature sensors, can be installed on the asset andmonitored using pattern recognition techniques embodied in a processorof the diagnostic module 472, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,437and U.S. Pat. No. 6,175,787. As such, various sensors 474 can be placedon the container 480 and used to determine problems with the container480 or refrigeration unit 470 which might cause it to operateabnormally, e.g., if the refrigeration unit were about to fail becauseof a refrigerant leak. Sensors 474 would indicate a higher temperaturethan expected if the refrigeration unit 470 were not operating normally.In this case, the information about the expected failure of therefrigeration unit 470 can be transmitted to a facility, via a linkbetween the diagnostic module 472 and the communications system 485, andmaintenance of the refrigeration unit can be scheduled, e.g., based onthe location of the personnel capable of fixed or replacing therefrigeration unit 470 and the location of the asset which is alsotransmitted by the communications unit 485. Instead of using sensors 474apart from the refrigeration unit 470, or other operating part whoseoperating is being diagnosed, to determine abnormal operation, it isalso possible to connect the diagnostic module 472 to the refrigerationunit 470 so that it can directly monitor the operation thereof, thisconnection being represented by a line in FIG. 20C.

It is anticipated that whatever entity is monitoring a plurality ofassets could strategically locate personnel capable of fixing orreplacing abnormally operating parts of the asset to ensure securecarriage of the goods in the asset, e.g., perishable products. Thus,when the asset provides a signal indicative of abnormal operation andits location to the remote facility, personnel at the remote facilitycould dispatch the nearest personnel to attend to the asset.

It can also be desirable to detect unauthorized entry into container,which could be by cutting with a torch, or motorized saw, grinding, orblasting through the wall, ceiling, or floor of the container. Thisevent can be detected by one or more of the following methods:

1. A light sensor which measures any part of the visible or infraredpart of the spectrum and is calibrated to the ambient light inside thecontainer when the door is closed and which then triggers when light isdetected above ambient levels and door is closed.

2. A vibration sensor or microphone attached to wall of container whichtriggers on vibrations of an amplitude and/or frequency signatureindicative of forced entry into the container. The duration of signalwould also be a factor to consider. The algorithm could be derived fromobservations and tests or it could use a pattern recognition approachsuch as Neural Networks.

3. An infrared or carbon dioxide sensor or even a microphone could beused to detect human presence, although a carbon dioxide sensor wouldprobably require a prolonged exposure.

4. Various motion sensors as discussed above can also be used, but wouldneed to be resistant to triggering on motion typical of cargo transport.Thus a trained pattern recognition algorithm might be necessary. Fortheft sensing or prevention motion may only needs to be sensed when thecontainer is at rest.

5. The Interior of the container can be flooded with waves (ultrasonicor electromagnetic) and the return signature evaluated by a patternrecognition system such as a neural network trained to recognize changesconsistent with the removal of cargo or the presence of a person orpeople. Alternately the mere fact that the pattern was changing could beindicative of human presence.

Antennas.

Antennas can be a very important aspect to SAW and RFID wireless devicessuch as can be used in tire monitors, cargo monitors, weight sensors,door monitors, fluid level sensors and similar devices or sensors whichmonitor, detect, measure, determine or derive physical properties orcharacteristics of a component in or on the tractor or trailer or of anarea near the vehicle. In many cases, the location of a SAW or RFIDdevice needs to be determined such as when a device is used to locatethe position of a movable item in or on a vehicle such as a seat. Inother cases, the particular device from a plurality of similar devices,such as a tire pressure and/or temperature monitor that is reporting,needs to be identified. Thus, a combination of antennas can be used andthe time or arrival, angle of arrival, multipath signature or similarmethod used to identify the reporting device. One preferred method isderived from the theory of smart antennas whereby the signals frommultiple antennas are combined to improve the signal-to-noise ratio ofthe incoming or outgoing signal in the presence of multipath effects,for example.

Additionally, since the signal level from a SAW or RFID device isfrequently low, various techniques can be used to improve thesignal-to-noise ratio as described below. Finally, at the frequenciesfrequently used such as 433 MHz, the antennas can become large andmethods are needed to reduce their size. Some of these and other antennaconsiderations that can be used to improve the operation of SAW, RFIDand similar wireless devices are described below.

Smart Antennas.

Some of the shortcomings in today's wireless products can be overcome byusing smart antenna technology. A smart antenna is usually amulti-element antenna that significantly improves reception byintelligently combining the signals received at each antenna element andadjusting the antenna characteristics to optimize performance as thetransmitter or receiver moves and the environment changes.

Smart antennas can suppress interfering signals, combat signal fadingand increase signal range thereby increasing the performance andcapacity of wireless systems.

A method of separating signals from multiple tires or container residentsensors, for example, is to use a smart antenna such as thatmanufactured by Motia. This particular Motia device is designed tooperate at 433 MHz and to mitigate multipath signals at that frequency.The signals returning to the antennas from tires, for example, containsome multipath effects that, especially if the antennas are offsetsomewhat from the vehicle center, are different for each wheel. Sincethe adaptive formula will differ for each wheel, the signals can beseparated (see “enhancing 802.11 WLANs through Smart Antennas”, January2004 available at motia.com). The following is taken from that paper.

“Antenna arrays can provide gain, combat multipath fading, and suppressinterfering signals, thereby increasing both the performance andcapacity of wireless systems. Smart antennas have been implemented in awide variety of wireless systems, where they have been demonstrated toprovide a large performance improvement. However, the various types ofspatial processing techniques have different advantages anddisadvantages in each type of system.”

“This strategy permits the seamless integration of smart antennatechnology with today's legacy WLAN chipset architecture. Since the802.11 system uses time division duplexing (the same frequency is usedfor transmit and receive), smart antennas can be used for both transmitand receive, providing a gain on both uplink and downlink, using smartantennas on either the client or access point alone. Results show a 13dB gain with a four element smart antenna over a single antenna systemwith the smart antenna on one side only, and an 18 dB gain with thesmart antenna on both the client and access point. Thus, this“plug-and-play” adaptive array technology can provide greater range,average data rate increases per user, and better overall coverage.

“In the multibeam or phased array antenna, a beamformer forms severalnarrow beams, and a beam selector chooses the beam for reception thathas the largest signal power. In the adaptive array, the signal isreceived by several antenna elements, each with similar antennapatterns, and the received signals are weighted and combined to form theoutput signal. The multibeam antenna is simpler to implement as thebeamformer is fixed, with the beam selection only needed every fewseconds for user movement, while the adaptive array must calculate thecomplex beamforming weights at least an order of magnitude faster thanthe fading rate, which can be several Hertz for pedestrian users.”

“Finally, there is pattern diversity, the use of antenna elements withdifferent patterns. The combination of these types of diversity permitsthe use of a large number of antennas even in a small form factor, suchas a PCMCIA card or handset, with near ideal performance.”

Through its adaptive beamforming technology, Motia has developedcost-effective smart antenna appliqués that vastly improve wirelessperformance in a wide variety of wireless applications including Wi-Fithat can be incorporated into wireless systems without majormodifications to existing products. Although the Motia chipset has beenapplied to several communication applications, it has yet to be appliedto all of the monitoring applications as disclosed in the currentassignee's patents and pending patent applications, and in particularvehicular monitoring applications such as cargo and tire monitoring.

The smart antenna works by determining a set of factors or weights thatare used to operate on the magnitude and/or phase of the signals fromeach antenna before the signals are combined. However, since thegeometry of a vehicle tire relative to the centralized antenna arraydoes not change much as the tire rotates, but is different for eachwheel, the weights themselves contain the information as to which tiresignal is being received. In fact, the weights can be chosen to optimizesignal transmission from a particular tire thus providing a method ofselectively interrogating each tire at the maximum antenna gain.

Distributed Load Monopole Antenna.

Antenna developments in the physics department at the University ofRhode Island have resulted in a new antenna technology. The antennasdeveloped called DLM's (Distributed loaded monopole) are smallefficient, wide bandwidth antennas. The simple design exhibits 50-ohmimpedance and is easy to implement. They require only a direct feed froma coax cable and require no elaborate matching networks.

The prime advantage to this technology is a substantial reduction of thesize of an antenna. Typically, the DLM antenna is about ⅓ the size of anormal dipole with only minor loss in efficiency. This is especiallyimportant for vehicle applications where space is always at a premium.Such antennas can be used for a variety of vehicle radar andcommunication applications as well for the monitoring of RFID, SAW andsimilar devices on a vehicle and especially for tire pressure,temperature, and/or acceleration monitoring as well as other monitoringpurposes. Such applications have not previously been disclosed.

Although the DLM is being applied to several communication applications,it has yet to be applied to all of the monitoring applications asdisclosed in the current assignee's patents and pending patentapplications. The antenna gain that results and the ability to packseveral antennas into a small package are attractive features of thistechnology.

Plasma Antenna.

The following disclosure was taken from “Markland Technologies—GasPlasma”.

“Plasma antenna technology employs ionized gas enclosed in a tube (orother enclosure) as the conducting element of an antenna. This is afundamental change from traditional antenna design that generallyemploys solid metal wires as the conducting element. Ionized gas is anefficient conducting element with a number of important advantages.Since the gas is ionized only for the time of transmission or reception,“ringing” and associated effects of solid wire antenna design areeliminated. The design allows for extremely short pulses, important tomany forms of digital communication and radars. The design furtherprovides the opportunity to construct an antenna that can be compact anddynamically reconfigured for frequency, direction, bandwidth, gain andbeamwidth. Plasma antenna technology will enable antennas to be designedthat are efficient, low in weight and smaller in size than traditionalsolid wire antennas.”

“When gas is electrically charged, or ionized to a plasma state itbecomes conductive, allowing radio frequency (RF) signals to betransmitted or received. We employ ionized gas enclosed in a tube as theconducting element of an antenna. When the gas is not ionized, theantenna element ceases to exist. This is a fundamental change fromtraditional antenna design that generally employs solid metal wires asthe conducting element. We believe our plasma antenna offers numerousadvantages including stealth for military applications and higherdigital performance in commercial applications. We also believe ourtechnology can compete in many metal antenna applications.”

“Initial studies have concluded that a plasma antenna's performance isequal to a copper wire antenna in every respect. Plasma antennas can beused for any transmission and/or modulation technique: continuous wave(CW), phase modulation, impulse, AM, FM, chirp, spread spectrum or otherdigital techniques. And the plasma antenna can be used over a largefrequency range up to 20 GHz and employ a wide variety of gases (forexample neon, argon, helium, krypton, mercury vapor and xenon). The sameis true as to its value as a receive antenna.”

“Plasma antenna technology has the following additional attributes:

-   -   1. No antenna ringing provides an improved signal to noise ratio        and reduces multipath signal distortion.    -   2. Reduced radar cross section provides stealth due to the        non-metallic elements. (This can make it difficult for thieves        to locate on board transmitting units.)    -   3. Changes in the ion density can result in instantaneous        changes in bandwidth over wide dynamic ranges.    -   4. After the gas is ionized, the plasma antenna has virtually no        noise floor.    -   5. While in operation, a plasma antenna with a low ionization        level can be decoupled from an adjacent high-frequency        transmitter.    -   6. A circular scan can be performed electronically with no        moving parts at a higher speed than traditional mechanical        antenna structures.    -   7. It has been mathematically illustrated that by selecting the        gases and changing ion density that the electrical aperture (or        apparent footprint) of a plasma antenna can be made to perform        on par with a metal counterpart having a larger physical size.    -   8. Our plasma antenna can transmit and receive from the same        aperture provided the frequencies are widely separated.    -   9. Plasma resonance, impedance and electron charge density are        all dynamically reconfigurable. Ionized gas antenna elements can        be constructed and configured into an array that is dynamically        reconfigurable for frequency, beamwidth, power, gain,        polarization and directionality—on the fly.    -   10. A single dynamic antenna structure can use time multiplexing        so that many RF subsystems can share one antenna resource        reducing the number and size of antenna structures.”

Several of the characteristics discussed above are of particularusefulness for several of the inventions herein including the absence ofringing, the ability to turn the antenna off after transmission and thenimmediately back on for reception, the ability to send very shortpulses, the ability to alter the directionality of the antenna and tosweep thereby allowing one antenna to service multiple devices such astires and to know which tire is responding. Additional advantagesinclude, smaller size, the ability to work with chirp, spread spectrumand other digital technologies, improved signal to noise ratio, widedynamic range, circular scanning without moving parts, and antennasharing over differing frequencies, among others.

Some of the applications disclosed herein can use ultra widebandtransceivers. UWB transceivers radiate most of the energy with itsfrequency centered on the physical length of the antenna. With the UWBconnected to a plasma antenna, the center frequency of the UWBtransceiver could be hopped or swept simultaneously.

A plasma antenna can solve the problem of multiple antennas by changingits electrical characteristic to match the function required—Time domainmultiplexed. It can be used for high-gain antennas such as phase array,parabolic focus steering, log periodic, yogi, patch quadrafiler, etc.One antenna can be used for GPS, ad-hoc (such as car-to-car)communication, collision avoidance, back up sensing, cruise control,radar, toll identification and data communications.

Although the plasma antennas are being applied to several communicationapplications, they have yet to be applied to the monitoring applicationsas disclosed herein. The many advantages that result and the ability topack several antenna functions into a small package are attractivefeatures of this technology. Patents and applications that discussplasma antennas include: U.S. Pat. No. 6,710,746 and U.S. Pat. App. PubNos. 20030160742 and 20040130497.

Dielectric Antenna.

A great deal of work is underway to make antennas from dielectricmaterials. In one case, the electric field that impinges on thedielectric is used to modulate a transverse electric light beam. Inanother case, the reduction of the speed of electromagnetic waves due tothe dielectric constant is used to reduce the size of the antenna. Itcan be expected that developments in this area will affect the antennasused in cell phones as well as in RFID and SAW-based communicationdevices in the future. Thus, dielectric antennas can be advantageouslyused with some of the inventions disclosed herein.

Nanotube Antenna.

Antennas made from carbon nanotubes are beginning to show promise ofincreasing the sensitivity of antennas and thus increasing the range forcommunication devices based on RFID, SAW or similar devices where thesignal strength frequently limits the range of such devices. The use ofthese antennas is therefore contemplated herein for use in tire andcargo monitors and the other applications disclosed herein.

Combinations of the above antenna designs in many cases can benefit fromthe advantages of each type to add further improvements to the field.Thus the inventions herein are not limited to any one of the aboveconcepts nor is it limited to their use alone. Where feasible, allcombinations are contemplated herein.

Tanks.

What follows now is a discussion of remote monitoring the level of afluid in a storage tank or container as well as other properties of atank, its environment and its contents. The determination of the levelof a fluid in a tank has been the subject of many patents, books andother published articles and papers (see, for example, Measurement andControl of Liquid Level, an Independent learning module from theInstrument Society of America, by Chun H. Cho, which describes severalsuch methods). A combination of any of these methods with a low powerconsumption, long life telematics system permitting the remotemonitoring of a movable tank and its contents and environment over longperiods of time without intervention is not believed to be availableprior to the inventions disclosed herein. With the availability of thesystem described herein, tanks which are trailers towed by tractors canbe monitored from any other place in the world for fluid level,tampering, theft of contents or the entire tank, fire, excessivetemperature, usage, etc.

FIG. 23 is a side view of a Frac tank, such as supplied by e-Tank Inc.,of Massillon, Ohio, containing a level monitoring system and othersensors in accordance with the invention. A similar system can apply toa tanker but will not be separately shown.

One preferred implementation of such a system for use with the Frac tanka schematically shown in FIG. 23 is described with reference to FIGS. 24and 25. In a most basic embodiment, an interior sensor system isarranged on a housing of the tank and is arranged to obtain informationabout any fluid in the interior of the housing, this information can bethe presence of fluid in the tank and/or the level of fluid in the tankor other properties of the fluid. A location determining system is alsoarranged on the housing and monitors the location of the tank, i.e.,either is provided with an initial position and monitors change in thatposition. A communication system is coupled to the interior sensorsystem and the location determining system, and possibly even arrangedon the housing itself, and transmits the information about the fluid inthe interior of the housing and the location, or identification, of thetank to a remote facility. The remote facility may be any facility whichmonitors the contents of the tank, including possibly multiplefacilities, all of which are concerned with the contents and conditionof the tank or the fluid therein. Instead of being mounted on thehousing itself, the communication system may be arranged in closeproximity to the housing such as on the tractor and coupled to theinterior sensor system and location determining system via wires or in awireless manner.

The level measurement in this example is accomplished using one or morewave-receiving devices 606, such as an ultrasonic transducermanufactured by Murata and described in the '572 patent mentioned above,and a reference target 601, which may donut-shaped. Each wave-receivingdevice 606 directs waves at an upper surface of the fluid when presentin the interior of the tank, when it is a wave transmitter, oralternatively receives waves, e.g., electromagnetic waves, from thefluid when it is, for example, an optical imager. Preferably, each wavereceiving device 606 is sealed into an enclosure which prevents it frombeing damaged by the fluid, i.e., liquid or gas in the interior of thehousing of the tank.

Each wave-receiving device 606 can be mounted to or in the top wall 602on the inside of any of the above mentioned tanks such that itsoperative field of view extends downward toward the fluid in the tank,whether downward toward the bottom of the tank or at an angle to a sideof the tank. A control unit/processor is provided to control the mannerin which each wave-transmitting device 606 emits ultrasonic orelectromagnetic waves, and the control unit/processor is shownschematically as 604, which unit also includes a location determiningsystem as described above. The location determining system and controlunit/processor may be arranged apart from one another, and possiblyalongside the housing of the tank or on another face of the tank, e.g.,a side of the tank.

When the wave-receiving device 606 is an ultrasonic transceiver, e.g.,an ultrasonic wave transmitter/receiver, each time the wave-transducer606 emits an ultrasonic pulse, a reflection is obtained from the fluidsurface and also from the reference target 601 if present. The receivedreflections are analyzed by the control unit processor 604. In oneembodiment, the control unit/processor 604 is provided with informationabout the distance between the wave-receiving device 606 and thereference target 601 in its field of view. In this case, since thelocation of the reference target 601 relative to the wave-receivingdevice 606 is known the speed of sound in the tank can be calculated,the effects of temperature and gas chemical makeup can be determined. Aratio of the echo times from the target 601 and fluid enables thecontrol unit/processor 604 coupled to the wave-receiving device 606 todetermine the location of the fluid surface. Knowing also the dimensionsof the tank, the control unit/processor 604 can also determine thequantity of fluid in the tank. A key advantage therefore of this systemis that it is independent of fluid or gas above the fluid compositionand temperature. Additional reference targets can of course be added ifit is desired to take into account the effects in gradation in the speedof sound caused by either the temperature or gas composition.

This system of course only measures the fluid level at one location, thelocation impacted by the transmitted ultrasonic waves, and thus somemethod of determining the rotations about the horizontal axes of thetank may also be incorporated, for tanks that are movable such as theFrac tank shown in FIG. 23. One method is to use multiple systems of thetype described herein or the incorporation of one or more tilt sensors603 shown in FIG. 23, such as those manufactured by Fredriks ofHuntingdon, Pa. and described in the '572 patent. If the geometry of thetank is known and the level of the fluid is measured at one appropriatepoint, then with the added information from a tilt or angle sensor 603,the quantity of the fluid in the tank can be accurately determined.Indeed, it has been established that by using trained patternrecognition techniques, knowing only three parameters about a fluidtank, it is possible to operatively and accurately determine thequantity of fluid in the tank, even when the tank is subject toinclination. This is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,892,572, incorporatedby reference herein. Other more accurate angle gages are available ascan be determined by one with ordinary skill in the art and the Fredrikssensors discussed herein are for illustration purposed only.

In some cases it is desirable to monitor the fluid in a tank while thetank is in motion. In such a situation the ultrasonic waves can beconfined to a tube wherein the tube diameter and optional holes can bedetermined based on the amount of vibration damping desired. The tubeand optional holes dampen the local level changes caused by the motionof the tank.

FIG. 24 shows one preferred method of determining the level of a fluidin a tank that is independent of temperature or the speed of sound. FIG.25 is a schematic illustration of the method of FIG. 24.

In some embodiments, the control unit/processor 604 is arranged tocompensate for thermal and/or gas density gradients in the interior ofthe tank. Different ways in which the received waves can be analyzed andprocessed while compensating for thermal and/or gas density gradientsare known to those skilled in the art. Compensation for gas densitygradients is particularly appropriate when using ultrasonic sensors andthus the processor which receives information about the ultrasonic wavesreflected from the upper surface of the liquid and determines thedistance between the ultrasonic sensor and the upper surface of theliquid (which enables a determination of the level of fluid in thestorage tank) would also be programmed to compensate for such gasdensity gradients (possibly in a manner described below). Any additionalgas density sensors which would be required to determine gaseousstratification of the area above the liquid may be mounted to thehousing.

In an embodiment described above, each wave receiving device 606receives waves from the upper surface of the fluid and from itsassociated reference target 601 so that the control unit/processor 604can analyze the waves and determine the level of fluid in the tank,since it knows the distance between each wave receiving device 606 andits associated reference target 601. In another embodiment, the controlunit/processor 604 compares waves received by each wave receiving device606 at different times and obtains information about the fluid in thetank based on the comparison of the waves received by the wave receivingdevice 606 at different times. When multiple wave receiving devices areprovided, the control unit/processor analyzes waves received by the wavereceiving devices 606 and obtains information about the fluid in thetank on the analysis of these waves.

Other sensors can be incorporated into the tank monitoring system asdescribed with regard to shipping containers or truck trailers describedelsewhere herein. For example, low power chemical or biological sensorscan be incorporated to monitor the chemical nature of the contents ofthe tank. Similarly, temperature, pressure or other sensors can be addedsuch as a camera that monitors the environment surrounding the tank andalerts the tank owner when the tank is approached or breached.Additional sensors include MIR based or other leakage detectors, sound,light, inertial sensors, radar, etc. Magnetic or other sensors, forexample, can detect the approach of a tractor that might be used to movethe tank. As such, in other embodiments of the invention, the interiorsensor system includes one or more additional sensors 605 for performingany one of a number of different functions, and which are coupled to thecontrol unit/processor 604. For example, a chemical sensor may beprovided to monitor the chemical nature of the fluid or vapor in thetank, and an exterior or environmental sensor may be provided to monitoran environment around the tank to obtain information about theenvironment around the tank. Additional sensors include a temperaturesensor, a pressure sensor, a carbon dioxide sensor, a humidity sensor, ahydrocarbon sensor, a narcotics sensor, a mercury vapor sensor, aradioactivity sensor, a microphone, an electromagnetic wave sensor,electric or magnetic field sensor and a light sensor.

As mentioned, other fluid level determining systems can also be used andall such systems are within the scope of this invention. Once a levelsystem has been chosen, then it can be combined with a satellite orother communication system, such as provided by SkyBitz, Inc., orinternet-based or cellular based SMS or GPRS or equivalent monitoringsystem in the same or similar manner as the shipping containermonitoring systems discussed elsewhere herein. Thus, once the interiorsensor system in any of the embodiments described above obtainsinformation about the fluid in the tank and optional additionalinformation about the tank, it provides this information to acommunication system which may also be housed in the same housing ascontrol unit/processor 604. The communication system directs thisinformation along with information about the location of the tankobtained from the location determining system to one or more remotefacilities 607, using for example, a satellite link, cell phone link, aninternet link or other communication system.

To optimize monitoring of the tank, the control unit/processor mayinclude an initiation device for periodically initiating the wavereceiving device(s) 606, and/or other sensors when present, to obtaininformation about the fluid in the tank and/or the condition of thetank. A wakeup sensor system may thus be provided for detecting theoccurrence of an internal or external event, or the absence of an eventfor a time period, requiring a change in the frequency of monitoring ofthe tank in a similar manner as described elsewhere with regard totrailers. The initiation device is coupled to the wakeup sensor systemand arranged to change the rate at which it initiates the wave receivingdevice(s), or wave transmitting device(s), 606 and/or other sensors toobtain information about the fluid in the tank and/or the condition ofthe tank in response to the detected occurrence of an internal orexternal event by the wakeup sensor system. The initiation device andwakeup sensor system may be integrated into the control unit/processor604 or separate therefrom.

In one embodiment, a motion or vibration detection system is arranged todetect motion or vibration of the tank or a part thereof. The interiorsensor system, e.g., the wave receiving device(s) 606, are coupled tothe motion or vibration detection system and obtain information aboutthe fluid of the interior of the housing only after the tank or a partthereof is determined to have moved from a stationary position orvibrated. Similarly, a wakeup sensor system can be mounted on thehousing of the tank for detecting the occurrence of an internal orexternal event relating to the condition or location of the fluid in thehousing or the tank. The communication system may be coupled to thewakeup sensor system and arranged to transmit a signal relating to thedetected occurrence of an internal or external event. Whenever desiredor necessary, a memory unit may be coupled to the control unit/processor604 or part thereof and stores data relating to the location of the tankand the fluid in the interior of the housing. The motion or vibrationdetection system and wakeup sensor system may be integrated into thecontrol unit/processor 604 or separate therefrom.

A motion sensor may be arranged on the housing for monitoring motion ofthe housing, when the housing is in particular a movable fluid storagetank such as a fuel tanker or Frac tank, and an alarm or warning systemcoupled to the motion sensor and which is activated when the motionsensor detects dangerous motion of the housing. The motion sensor andalarm or warning sensor system may be integrated into the controlunit/processor 604 or separate therefrom. The motion sensor may be aflux gate compass which is designed to determine if the tank has beenmoved.

The interior sensor system, e.g., the wave receiving device(s) 606, thelocation determining system and the communication system preferably allhave low power requirements. A battery, e.g., a rechargeable battery,may be coupled to the interior sensor system, the location determiningsystem and the communication system for providing power thereto. Thebattery may be supplemented with an energy harvesting system. In somecases where very long life batteries are required and where replacementis preferable to recharging, non-rechargeable batteries can be usedwhich have a longer life.

In addition to information being obtained based on changes in thecondition or state of the housing, it is also possible to cause theinterior sensor system to obtain information upon receipt of a commandfrom the remote facility 607. In this case, the link between thecommunications device in the control unit/processor 604 isbi-directional and allows for reception of a command from a remotefacility 607 to cause the wave sending and/or receiving device(s) 606 tooperate and obtain information about the fluid in the tank. Thisinformation is subsequently transmitted to the remote facility 607. Inanother case, the interior sensor system includes a combination ofoptical and ultrasonic or other wave-type receiving or transceivingdevices, each such device being represented by reference numeral 606. Anoptical system 606 can be mounted on the housing to characterize thecontents in the tank, e.g., determine the nature of the fluid, itsidentity or composition, and an ultrasonic system 606 can be used todetermine the fluid level. Both such systems can be coupled to thecontrol unit/processor 604 which can coordinate information gathering byboth systems and transmit messages to the remote facility 607 about thenature of the fluid and its level, along with a location or positionindication obtained from the location determining system. Such anoptical system may be as described herein and would generally include anoptical sensor which obtains images of the fluid and can analyze theimages to determine the nature of the fluid. This may be achieved usingpattern recognition technologies.

In another embodiment, only optical systems are used, represented byreference numeral 606 in FIGS. 22 and 23, since an optical system couldalso determine the level of fluid in a tank. In this case, one or moremarkings can be provided along the inner surface of the tank, or onother members extending along the height of the tank in the interior ofthe tank. The optical system obtains images including the marking(s) andcan analyze the images to determine the level of the fluid. In oneparticular embodiment, the optical system is designed to project scaleson the inner surface of three walls of the housing, or at threedifferent locations on the inner surface of the housing wall or walls,and obtain images of the wall(s) at the projected locations of thescales. This information is used to derive the level of fluid in thetank, by a processor which may use a trained pattern recognitiontechnique such as a trained neural network. The training may involveobtaining images when different, but known, levels of fluid are presentin the tank, and the tank is at different inclinations. In this case,images are obtained for different tank levels and different inclinationsand inputted into a neural network generating program which provides aneural network which is capable of outputting a fluid level uponreceiving images of the three projected scales.

In one embodiment, it is envisioned that modulated and/or structuredlight may be used for tank level measurements.

In a preferred embodiment, a single ultrasonic wave receiving device 606is mounted to an inner surface of the housing and is sealed into anenclosure to prevent damage caused by any fluids in the housing. A twoaxis tilt or angle sensor 605 is also mounted to the housing and thissensor 605 as well as the wave receiving device 606 are coupled to thecontrol unit/processor 604. The control unit/processor 604 receivessignal corresponding to or representative of the waves received by thewave receiving device 606, or information derived therefrom at the wavereceiving device 606, along with the information about inclination ofthe housing from the tilt sensor 605 and the location of the tank fromthe location determining system and forms a message for transmission tothe remote facility 607.

Electric field sensors can also be configured to monitor liquid levelsin tanks by those skilled in the art.

The remote facility 607 which monitors the storage tanks can receivemessages, e.g., via the Internet, SMS, GPRS or a satellite link, eachcontaining the location of the tank and information about the fluidtherein, or, alternately a coded message indication that the fluid levelis unchanged. The remote facility 607 can also be designed to enablemonitoring of selected ones or all of the storage tanks via the wavereceiving devices if a bi-directional communications device is coupledto or part of the control unit/processor 604 associated with eachstorage tank. A report about the storage tanks can be compiled by aprocessor or control unit at the remote facility 607 and alarms orwarnings provided to monitoring personnel if a problem is detected withany of the fluids in the tanks, such as the theft of some of the fluid,or a problem is detected with any of the tanks such as theft of theentire tank.

When the communication system in the control unit/processor 604 on thehousing of the tank allows for bi-directional communications, the tankcan be provided with one or more controlled systems or components whichcan be commanded by the remote facility 607 to undertake a specificaction. This would be in addition to the ability of the remote facility607 to command the interior sensor system, e.g., the wave sending and/orreceiving device(s) 606 to undertake a reading. Such controlled systemsmay be a fire extinguisher on the tank. Any of these such systems can becoupled to the control unit/processor 604 and commanded via the link tothe remote facility 607. This therefore provides for remote control ofsystems on the tank.

Referring now to FIGS. 26 and 27, another embodiment of a fluid levelmeasuring system in accordance with the invention for particular usewith tanks includes a buoyant housing 608 which floats on the liquid inthe storage tank housing. Housing 608 includes a first transducer 610arranged to face upward and a second transducer 611 arranged to facedownward.

Transducer 610 may be an ultrasonic, electric field or RF transducerwhich is capable of providing information to enable a determination ofor possibly actually determining the range of distance to the top of thestorage tank, i.e., the distance between the housing 608 and the top ofthe storage tank. If transducer 610 is an ultrasonic transducer, itdirects ultrasonic waves at the inner surface of the top wall of thestorage tank and receives reflected ultrasonic waves.

Transducer 611 may be an ultrasonic transducer which is capable ofproviding information to enable a determination of or possibly actuallydetermining the range or distance to the bottom of the storage tank. Iftransducer 611 is an ultrasonic transducer, it directs ultrasonic wavesat the inner surface of the bottom wall of the storage tank and receivesreflected ultrasonic waves.

A processor/communications unit 612 is connected to transducers 610, 611and, when the transducers 610, 611 only provide data about the reflectedwaves but not the range or distance information, the processordetermines the range or distance between the housing 608 and both thetop and bottom of the tank. From the range or distance determinations,processor 612 is thus capable of determining the level (L) of the liquidif the height (H) of the tank is known (and provided to the processor612). The processor 612 could also correct for other variables in thedeterminations, such as temperature, pressure and gas density asdisclosed herein.

If the speed of sound in the liquid or the gas is provided to orotherwise determined by sensors connected to the processor 612, it canthen determine the fluid level using the data from only one of thetransducer 610, 611. For example, if the speed of sound in the liquid isknown, the processor 612 can determine the level of fluid based on thedata provided by transducer 611.

In one embodiment, a reference target is arranged in the field of viewof transducer 610 and thus, only transducer 610 would be needed toenable a determination of the level of liquid in the tank. In this case,housing 608 could not include transducer 611.

Processor 612 includes a communications unit or system whichcommunicates with the remote facility 607, either directly orindirectly, e.g., through an intermediate structure which receiveswireless signals from the processor/communications unit 612 indicativeof the level of liquid in the tank and relays them to the remotefacility 607.

It is noted that additional methods for measuring the level of liquid inthe storage tanks may be used in the invention, such as those describedin the book, Measurement and Control of Liquid Level. Any of these levelmeasuring techniques may be used in the invention, when used incombination with a communications unit which is capable of forwardingthe measured liquid level to a remote facility or engaging inbi-directional communications with a remote facility to enable theremote facility to initiate a liquid level measurement.

Gradients.

In some applications of the ultrasonic, electromagnetic and opticalreceiving devices, in particular, use of such devices for determininginformation about a fluid in an enclosed storage tank, there may be gasdensity gradients caused by temperature variations and/or by variationsin the make-up or composition or chemical nature of the gas or liquid inthe storage tank. For example, in a liquid tank, a mixture of gassescould separate with the more dense gas near the liquid surface and theless dense gas near the top of the storage tank. This gas densitygradient may affect ultrasonic waves and therefore, in the embodimentdescribed above wherein an ultrasonic sensor is arranged at the top wallof the storage tank, the determination of the distance between theultrasonic sensor and the upper surface of the liquid. To ensurereasonable accuracy of the determination of the distance between theultrasonic sensor and the upper surface of the liquid, and thus anaccurate assessment of the fluid level, any gas density gradient shouldbe compensated for.

One way to achieve this would be to determine the gas density atmultiple, spaced-apart locations in the tank, i.e., in the area in whichgas is present in the tank which would be the area between the uppersurface of the liquid and the top of the tank. If the gas densityreadings from appropriate gas density sensors are all equal, this wouldbe indicative of the lack of a gas density gradient. However, if the gasdensity readings are different, a processor which determines thedistance between the ultrasonic sensor and the upper surface of theliquid (and uses this distance determination to determine the level offluid in the storage tank) must compensate for the gas density gradientif it affects the ultrasonic waves.

The embodiment wherein the level of liquid in a storage tank isdetermined is thus especially appropriate environment for a technique tocompensate for gas density gradients or gaseous stratification.

In some cases, a combination of an optical system such as a camera andan ultrasonic system can be used. In this case, the optical system canbe used to acquire an image providing information as to the vertical andlateral dimensions of the scene and the ultrasound can be used toprovide longitudinal information, for example. In another case, anoptical system can be used to characterize the contents in a containeror storage tank and an ultrasonic system used to determine the distanceto the object or the fluid level.

Any of the transducers discussed herein such as an active pixel or othercamera can be arranged in various locations in a vehicle compartmentincluding in a headliner, roof, ceiling, rear view mirror assembly, anA-pillar, a B-pillar and a C-pillar in the case of the tractor or aceiling, side wall or even a door in the case of a cargo container ortruck trailer. For tanks, the roof is generally a good location formounting ultrasonic-based level detectors and a wall is a good locationfor mounting optical systems. Nevertheless, for an ultrasonic-basedlevel detector, any location where the detector has a field of vieworiented toward the upper surface of the fluid would be suitable. For anoptical system, any location where the detector has a field of view ofany part of the fluid would be suitable. In this case, care should beexercised to ensure that the optical system has a view of the fluid evenwhen it is at a low level.

Both bladder and strain gage weight sensors can also be used inmeasuring the mass of fluid in a tank or container. Use of weight tomeasure the quantity of fuel in a vehicle fuel tank is discussed in U.S.Pat. No. 6,615,656 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,892,572, both of which areincorporated by reference herein. Many of the techniques discussedtherein are also applicable to determining the quantity of fluid intanks and other containers.

As mentioned, optical systems can be effectively used to monitor thelevel of a fluid in tank especially when the tank is stationary. In onesuch implementation, a scale can be projected from the imager and thepoint where the fluid covers the image on the wall can be easilydetermined. Thus, in one small package that does not require painting ascale on the tank wall, for example, an accurate measurement of thelevel at the wall can be determined. Again, multiple such systems can beused to account for the rotation of the tank or an angle measurementsensor can be incorporated. A preferred implementation is to use threeimagers of a prism designed to display and record the reflection of ascale on three walls. Such a device can be mounted in a single locationsuch as 602 in FIG. 23 as a simple, low power device.

Fuel tanks may also be monitored by, in addition to motion and sounddetectors, by RF detectors which may be mounted to the housing of thetanks. RF detectors could detect approaching people or vehicle when, forexample, a person has or is using a cell phone or other RF transmitter.

Although the inventions disclosed herein are primarily intended to solvethe theft of cargo problem, it is noteworthy that systems based on thedisclosure herein can be configured to monitor construction machineryand on site material and supplies to prevent theft or at least to notifyothers that a theft is in progress.

In many cases, it is desirable to obtain and record additionalinformation about the cargo container and its contents. As mentionedabove, the weight of the container with its contents and thedistribution and changes in this weight distribution can be valuable fora safety authority investigating an accident, for highway authoritiesmonitoring gross vehicle weight, for container owners who charge by theused capacity, and others. The environment that the container and itscontents have been subjected to could also be significant information.Such things as whether the container was flooded, exposed to a spill orleakage of a hazardous material, exposed to excessive heat or cold,shocks, vibration, radiation etc. can be important historical factorsfor the container affecting its useful life, establishing liability fordamages etc. For example, a continuous monitoring of container interiortemperature could be significant for perishable cargo and forestablishing liability. Specifically, monitoring of the temperature canbe used to determine whether the operating parts of the container, e.g.,the refrigeration unit, fails and thereby establish liability for damageto the perishable cargo with the entity responsible for maintenance ofthe cargo container. In this case, data about the refrigeration unitcould be transmitted to a facility operated by an entity responsible formaintenance of the cargo container, as discussed elsewhere herein, toenable them to act to rectify failure of the refrigeration unit. Such anentity might lease refrigerated cargo containers and once a failure of arefrigeration unit is detected, it could immediately notify the truckeror railroad operator transporting the container to sideline thecontainer until the perishable cargo therein can be transferred toanother refrigerated cargo container or the refrigeration unit fixed.Staff for fixing refrigeration units could be strategically positionedaround areas in which leased cargo containers travel, or are expected totravel.

With reference to FIG. 20A, in some cases, the individual cargo items498 can be tagged with RFID or SAW tags 499 (also representing a generalsensor system used to obtain data about the cargo item 498) and thepresence of this cargo in the container 480 could be valuableinformation to the owner of the cargo. One or more sensors on thecontainer that periodically read RFID tags could be required, such asone or more RFID interrogators 500 which periodically send a signalwhich will causes the RFID tags 499 to generate a responsive signal. Theresponsive signal generated by the RFID tags 499 will containinformation about the cargo item on which the RFID tag 499 is placed.This information may be any property or condition about the contents,such as temperature, presence of one or more chemicals, pressure, aradioactivity sensor, and other types of sensors discussed elsewhereherein.

Multiple interrogators or at least multiple antennas may be requireddepending on the size of the container. The RFID can be based on a SAWthus can provide greater range for a passive system or it can also beprovided with an internal battery or ultracapacitor for even greaterrange. Energy harvesting can also be used if appropriate.

In one method for tracking packages in accordance with the invention,the interrogator 500 includes a processor and is programmed toperiodically interrogate the interior of the container 480 bytransmitting radio frequency waves into the interior of the container480. As known to known skilled in the art, the interrogator 500 receivesRF signals generated by the RFID tags 499, and the processor thereininterprets the received RF signals into an indication of the presence ofa specific cargo item 498 (with the signal possibly providinginformation about the cargo item 498). The processor in the interrogator500 can form a list of the contents of the container 480, i.e., theidentified cargo items 498, and provide this list to the communicationssystem 485 via a link thereto whereby the communication system 485transmits this list to one or more remote facilities.

An entity managing shipment of the cargo items 498, e.g., a packagedelivery service company, is thus able to known the location of everybox in every container 480, and the location of the container 480 whenit provides its location in the transmission to the remote facility. Thelocation of the container 480 may be provided by a positioning system485 on the container 480 as shown in FIG. 20A.

Bi-directional communications are also possible whereby the managingentity can initiate the interrogator 500 to interrogate the interior ofthe container 480. Thus, interrogator 500 can either be initiated uponcommand from the remote facility, at a predetermined periodic intervaland/or upon detection of a condition which may give rise to a change inthe contents of the container 480, e.g., opening or closing of the dooras detected by a door status sensor 487 described elsewhere herein. Themanaging entity may perform an hourly update of the contents of itsmanaged containers 480 to ascertain when each cargo item 498 has beenremoved, and thus delivered, and can thereby track the efficiency of thedelivery personnel. Further, the bi-directional communications can beused to provide data about the cargo items 498 to the remote facility,e.g., when a new cargo item 498 is placed into the container, theinterrogator 500 could read the indicia, convert it to an identificationand other information and then transmit this identification and otherinformation to the remote facility to begin tracking of this new cargoitem 498.

Similarly, for certain types of cargo, a barcode system mightacceptable, or another optically readable identification code. The cargoitems would have to be placed so that the identification codes arereadable, i.e., when a beam or other illumination of light is directedover the identification codes, a pattern of light is generated whichcontains information about the cargo item. In this regard, a system canbe provided to notify the personnel placing the boxes 503 into thecontainer 480 that the boxes 503 are not placed properly, i.e., theindicia thereon cannot be read. Thus, one or more attempts may be madeto read the indicia on a box when it is first placed into the containerand a warning provided, e.g., a visual and/or audible warning, if thebox is placed such that the indicia is not readable by an opticalscanner. An imager can be used in place of a scanner and the barcodesegmented in the image and converted to an ID.

As shown in FIG. 20B, the cargo items in this case are boxes 503 havingvariable heights and all are arranged so that a space remains betweenthe top of the boxes 503 and the ceiling of the container 480. One ormore optical scanners or imagers 502, including a light transmitter andreceiver, are arranged on the ceiling of the container and can bearranged to scan or image the upper surfaces of the boxes 503, possiblyby moving the length of the container 480 (via a movement mechanism suchas an actuator coupled to the optical scanner or imager which movesalong one or more rails 468 which can extend along the length of thecontainer 480), or through a plurality of such sensors. During such ascan, images or patterns of light are reflected from the barcodes 501 onthe upper surfaces of the boxes 503 and received by the optical scanneror imager 502. The patterns of light contain information about the cargoitems in the boxes 503. Receivers can be arranged at multiple locationsalong the ceiling, in which case, an optical scanner includes anassembly of a light transmitter and one or more light receivers spacedapart from the light transmitter. Alternately a plurality of imagers canbe strategically placed. Other arrangements to ensure that a light beamtraverses a barcode 501 and is received by a receiver or images of thebarcodes received by the imager can also be applied in accordance withthe invention. As discussed above, other tag technologies can be used ifappropriate such as those based of magnetic wires.

By monitoring the data being determined using the sensors on the cargoitems 498, this data can be analyzed by a processor on the cargo items498 themselves, e.g., as part of the sensor system 499, or separate fromthe cargo items 498, e.g., on the container 480 (see processor 506 inFIG. 59A wherein the processor 506 is close to the RFID interrogator500), to determine the presence of a condition which has or is likely toaffect the status or health of the cargo items 498 has occurred or isforecast to occur. That is, the processor 506 determines whether thereis a problem with the cargo items 498 or a potential problem. As anexample, one problem is when a motion sensor is part of the sensorsystem 499 and motion of the cargo item 498 is analyzed relative tomotion of the container 480, and the processor 506 determines that thecargo item is moving considerably more than the container 480, whichsituation could be indicative of the cargo item 498 not being properlyrestrained and thus liable to fall over and cause damage to the cargoitem 498 or some other item. Analysis of data obtained by the sensorsystems 491 to determine the existence or potential for a problem withthe cargo item 498 may involve use of pattern recognition technologies,such as a trained neural network.

The communication system 485 may be programmed to transmit a message toa remote facility while the container is traveling only when theprocessor determines the presence of a problem or potential problem withone or more cargo items 498. This would conserve energy. Additionally,or alternatively, the sensor systems 491 could be designed to trigger toobtain data about the cargo item 498 when a door of the asset is closedafter having been opened, a change in light in the interior of thecontainer 480 is detected, based on a predetermined or variableinitiation time being regulated by an initiation device, motion of thecontainer 480 or change in motion of the container 480 is detected,vibration of the container 480 is detected, and a predetermined internalor external event occurs which warrants obtaining data about thecontents in view of the possibility of a change in the status or healthof the contents. In one embodiment, the sensor systems 491 on the cargoitems 498 can be triggered to obtained data from the remote facility viathe communication system 485, or from personnel on or about the vehicleon which the container 480 is situated.

When sensors are placed on each cargo item 498, the sensors are coupledto the communication system 485 and the location determining system 486using wires or wirelessly or a combination of both. If needed, apeer-to-peer and/or a mesh network can be integrated into the asset,i.e., the frame thereof, to enable all sensors on cargo items 498arranged in the interior of the asset to communicate with thecommunication system 485. This would most likely be applicable for largeships, trains and airplanes.

The ability to read barcodes and RFID tags provides the capability ofthe more closely tracking of packages for such organizations as UPS,Federal Express, the U.S. Postal Service, or other common carriers, andtheir customers. Now, in some cases, the company can ascertain that agiven package is in fact on a particular truck or cargo transporter andalso know the exact location of the transporter.

In one method for tracking packages in accordance with the invention,the optical scanner or imager 502 includes a processor and is programmedto periodically generate a light beam or other illumination and directthe light beam or illumination downward to read or image any barcodes501 on boxes 503 in the field of view of the receiver. If movable, theoptical scanner or imager 502 is also periodically moved along the rails468 to ensure that most if not all of the area of the interior of thecontainer 480 is exposed to the light beam or illuminator from theoptical scanner or imager 502. As known to those skilled in the art, theoptical scanner 502 reads the barcodes 501, and the processor thereininterprets the barcodes 501 into an indication of the presence of aparticular box 503 (with the barcode 501 possibly providing informationabout the box 503). The use of an imager for this purpose is notcurrently in use to the inventor's knowledge. The processor in theoptical scanner or imager 502 can form a list of the contents of thecontainer 480, i.e., the identified boxes 503, and provide this list tothe communications system 485 via a link thereto whereby thecommunication system 485 transmits this list to one or more remotefacilities.

An entity managing shipment of the boxes 503, e.g., a package deliveryservice company or shipping company, is thus able to know the locationof every box in every container 480, and the location of the container480 when it provides its location in the transmission to the remotefacility. The location of the container 480 may be provided by apositioning system 486 on the container 480 (not shown in FIG. 3B).

Bi-directional communications are also possible whereby the managingentity can initiate the optical scanner or imager 502 to read thebarcodes 501 from the boxes 503. Thus, optical scanner or imager 502 caneither be initiated upon command from the remote facility, at apredetermined periodic interval and/or upon detection of a conditionwhich may give rise to a change in the contents of the container 480,e.g., opening or closing of the door as detected by a door status sensor487 described elsewhere herein. The managing entity may perform anhourly update of the contents of its managed containers 480 when thecontainer is in transit and not parked and perhaps more frequently atother times to ascertain when each box 503 has been removed, and thusdelivered, and can thereby track the efficiency of the deliverypersonnel. Further, the bi-directional communications can be used toprovide data about the packages to the remote facility, e.g., when a newbox 503 is placed into the container, the optical scanner or imager 502could read the indicia, convert it to an identification and otherinformation and then transmit this identification and other informationto the remote facility to begin tracking of this new box 503.

Frequently, a trailer or container has certain hardware such as racksfor automotive parts, for example, that are required to stay with thecontainer. During unloading of the cargo these racks, or othersub-containers, could be removed from the container and not returned. Ifthe container system knows to check for the existence of these racks,then this error can be eliminated. Frequently, the racks are of greatervalue then the cargo they transport. Using RFID tags and a simpleinterrogator mounted on the ceiling of the container perhaps near theentrance, enables monitoring of parts that are taken in or are removedfrom the container and associated with the location of container. Bythis method, pilferage of valuable or dangerous cargo can at least betracked.

Communication between the sensors and various elements of the shippingsystem which are co-located (truck, trailer, container, containercontents, driver etc.) can be through a wired or wireless bus such asthe CAN bus. Also, an electrical system such as disclosed in U.S. Pat.Nos. 5,809,437, 6,175,787 and 6,326,704 can also be used in theinvention.

3. Communication Systems

General

Commercial cargo container tracking systems are now available fromcompanies such as Skybitz Inc. 22455 Davis Drive, Suite 100, Sterling,Va. 20164, which will monitor the location of an asset anywhere on thesurface of the earth. Each monitored asset contains a low cost GPSreceiver and a satellite communication system. The system can beinstalled onto a truck, trailer, container, or other asset and it wellperiodically communicate with a low earth orbit (LEO) or a geostationarysatellite, depending on the commercial provider, providing the satellitewith its location as determined by the GPS receiver or a similar systemsuch as the Skybitz Global Locating System (GLS). The entire systemoperates off of a battery pack and if the system transmits informationto the satellite once per day, the battery can last many years beforerequiring replacement. Thus, the system can monitor the location of atrailer, for example, once per day, which is sufficient if trailer isstationary and in a protected area or is empty. The interrogation ratecan be increased based on the needs of the shipping company. Such asystem can last up to 10 years without requiring maintenance dependingon design, usage and the environment. Even longer periods are possibleif the batteries are replaced or if power is periodically oroccasionally available to recharge the batteries such as by vibrationenergy harvesting, solar cells, capacitive coupling, inductive coupling,RF or wired vehicle power. In some cases, an ultracapacitor can be usedin conjunction with or in place of a battery. If greater power isrequired and the trailer or container is not connected to vehicle orother power source, a fuel cell can be used to recharge or supplementthe battery or ultracapacitor.

The SkyBitz or equivalent system by itself only provides information asto the location of a container and not information about its contents,environment, and/or other properties. At least one of the inventionsherein disclosed is intended to provide this additional information,which can be coded typically into a few bytes of data and sent to thesatellite, or to a remote site by another communication system asdiscussed below, along with the container location information andidentification. Due to the limited power available and the powerrequired to transmit to a satellite, the SkyBitz solution in generalwill not be used for continuous monitoring of a shipping container.

The terms “trailer”, “shipping container” or “container” will be usedhere as a generic cargo holder and will include all cargo holdersincluding standard and non-standard containers, boats, trucks, trailers,tanks or any other movable object that can be used to transport cargo.Most of these “containers” are also vehicles or trailers as definedabove.

While the cargo container is in transit from the initial loading pointto the destination the container can transmit its status to, and receivecommunications from, a remote site by satellite, cell phone, theInternet, radio, and SMS or GPRS by any available wireless communicationchannel. However, with more than two million tractor trailers operatingin the US and approximately 500,000 trailers on the road in the US atany one time attention must be paid to the bandwidth required by thesystem if totally implemented across a majority or all truck trailers.To the extent that trailers are on the interstate highways, the USGovernment is implementing the DSRC system which will allow trailers tocommunicate with roadside transceivers and perhaps from there to theInternet. Additionally the cell phone system is nearly ubiquitous and anSMS type protocol can be agreed upon that minimizes the handshaking andadditional message overhead and allows messages that conform to aspecific protocol to be transmitted and received with the minimum ofadditional data. This solution is discussed in more detail below.Finally ubiquitous wireless broadband Internet using WiMAX and/or LTE isnow being deployed and if completed a direct to Internet communicationsolution will be available. Thus, appropriately equipped trailers cancommunicate their very short messages very frequently withoutoverloading the various networks.

An additional dimension exists with the use of the Skybitz, SMS, GPRS orubiquitous internet system, for example, where an asset mounted devicehas further wireless communications with other devices in, on or nearthe asset. Tagged items within or on the assets can be verified if alocal area network exists between the off asset communication device andother objects. Perhaps it is desired to check that a particular piece ofequipment is located within an asset. Further perhaps it is desired todetermine that the piece of equipment is operating or operating withincertain parameter ranges, or has a particular temperature etc. Perhapsit is desired to determine whether a particular item fitted with an RFIDtag is present on or in the trailer. The possibilities are endless fordetermining the presence, status or operating parameters of a componentor occupying item of a remote asset and to periodically communicate thisinformation to an internet site, for example, either directly or byusing a low power asset monitoring system such as the Skybitz system orby a cellular or internet based SMS or equivalent system.

Problem Statement

A trailer begins its journey with a cargo load and it is the goal of thesystem to guarantee that the trailer and its cargo arrive at itsdestination intact. Many incidents can occur along the way includingtheft of the tractor and trailer rig, theft of the trailer with thecargo and theft of the cargo alone. The achievement of this goal isbased on the concept of changing the problem into an informationproblem. That is, to sense when a problem arises, that will prevent thegoal from being reached, in a timely manner so that the crime can bestopped in progress. As long as the trailer does not encounter a problemthen no energy or cost need to be expended by the driver, owner, shipperor authorities.

Although many solutions have been proposed such as secure door locks andcargo items containing their own sensors and transmitters, all suchsystems are easily defeated by sophisticated thieves. Some such systemscan delay a theft and others can track a stolen vehicle and thus can beuseful additions to the basic system described herein. These will bediscussed in some detail in later sections of this specification. Thesolution to be discussed here will concentrate on the information andcommunication system which will substantially achieve the goal ofeliminating cargo theft.

Solution

A trailer equipped with the system of this invention can have a uniqueidentification code, hereinafter called an ID, at least for the durationof the trip and preferably for the life of the trailer. This ID can forma key part of the message which will be periodically sent to a remotesite using the chosen communication system which in the preferredimplementation will be assumed to be the SMS system operating over acell phone network. Other equivalent communication systems can be usedincluding a direct connection to the Internet through a WiFi, WIMAX, LTEor other equivalent system. Additionally there are a number of textmessaging systems coming on line to compete with SMS including those byGoogle and Apple as mentioned above. A vehicle may at any one time haveaccess to several different communication channels and may choose theone that best meets the requirements at the time. The chosen channel canchange from time to time as the vehicle travels to its destination. Theimportant feature is that some communication channel is available whichhas the properties that it will receive short messages and route them totheir destination hereinafter referred to as the remote site. Eachmessage sent by the vehicle can contain its ID, the destination for themessage and at least an error code. Other information will of course beappended to the message consistent with the requirements of theparticular channel chosen. Additionally, the ID and error code can beencrypted in such a manner that they cannot be easily faked or spoofedby a sophisticated thief. Thus, the receiving site can know for certainthat this message was sent by a trailer having the unique ID.

An important feature of at least one of the preferred implementations ofthe inventions disclosed herein is the frequency of communication of thecontainer status which can depend on various factors such as whether thevehicle is moving or stationary and if stationary whether it is waitingfor a traffic control signal, stuck in traffic or parked. In addition toa communication frequency determined by a container resident algorithm,the frequency can also be controlled by commands from the remote sitewhich may relate, for example, to the value of the cargo or to the theftprobability. In general, the communication frequency will be less whenthe vehicle is traveling than when it is parked, for example, since mostcargo theft occurs while the trailer is parked. Other factors that canbe taken into account in determining the status communication frequencyinclude whether the driver is present, the geographical location of thetrailer, the time of day and whether an event has occurred. Events thatcan change the communication frequency include the sensing of anintrusion into the trailer, sensing of any change in the cargo withinthe container such as a change in position or presence of an item or ofbulk cargo whether sensed ultrasonically, optically, electromagneticallyor by a tag signal in response to an interrogation, or the change in thesensed internal environment. Other events that can change thecommunication frequency include events in the space outside but near tothe trailer including the presence of another vehicle, the detachment ofa trailer from its tractor, unexpected movement of the trailer, theapproach of a human to the trailer, unexpected sounds, the starting ofthe engine by someone other than the driver, etc. Other factors relatedto the route traveled and schedule can affect the communicationfrequency such as an unexpected and unauthorized deviation from theplanned route or an unexpected deviation from the planned schedule.

Generally, the transmission frequency will be low while the trailer ismoving and on the expected route and on time, such as once per fiveminutes, and higher while the trailer is parked, and especially when thedriver has departed from the tractor, or something unexpected hasoccurred, such as once per ten seconds. Keeping in mind that a trailercan be stolen in as short as fifteen seconds, wherever any of the aboveevents occur the transmission frequency can be increased to once persecond, for example. Due to the large number of transmissions from atrailer contemplated herein, it is important that each message be keptshort so as to minimize the required bandwidth.

The error code which is sent can indicate that no event has occurred andthat the container is on the proper route and on time, an OK error. Whenthe software at the remote site receives such a message it updates thestatus of the trailer on an internet accessible file and takes nofurther action. If there is an event then the OK message can be changedto give a report of the event and whether it is likely to be associatedwith an attempted theft, accident or other serious incident. If theevent is a schedule delay the remote site software can check on weatherand traffic conditions on the route and decide whether further action iswarranted. The trailer can transmit its location on request by theremote site software or the entire planned route can be uploaded to theremote site along with an estimate of the delay. In the latter case onlythe delay needs to be modified. Alternately, the trailer can upload acode representing a shipping company pre-designated route and asubsequent code of an alternate pre-designated route if weather ortraffic conditions warrant a route change. If the delay is deemedsignificant, based on parameters set by the shipping company, then thesoftware can alert the shipping company or other interested partyaccording to the programmed instructions from the shipping company. Formore serious error codes other actions can be initiated as per theprogrammed instructions. These actions can include sending email, textmessages or automated phone call to the driver and other interestedparties and notifying the authorities that a theft is in progress or anaccident has occurred. The location of the vehicle can also be a singleOK bit if it is on the expected route and on schedule within certainprogrammed tolerances.

Sophisticated thieves can invoke jamming transmissions as soon as theyare aware that the trailer is transmitting information to theinfrastructure. Various spread spectrum, frequency hopping or impulseradar techniques can be employed to prevent or reduce the effects ofjamming but that requires significant additions to the vehicle orinfrastructure. The thieves can also attempt to locate the transmitterand disable it or otherwise prevent it from transmitting. In this eventthe remote station that has been receiving the messages can assume thata theft is in progress and take appropriate actions. Since a trailer canbe stolen in as little as 15 seconds the remote station has little timeto act. In many cases, for example, this is insufficient time for lawenforcement authorities to travel to the last know location of thetrailer. By the time that they arrive the trailer is long gone. Thisissue will be discussed below.

Basically, in a preferred implementation of the invention, an OK messageis sent to the remote site on an established schedule that indicatesthat the cargo has not been disturbed, there has not been an intrusioninto the trailer, the authorized driver is present and alone in the cab,the trailer is moving on the expected route and on schedule and therehas been no other event that might signify a problem. The message alsocontains the trailer ID and is sent encrypted in such a manner that itcannot be spoofed. The encryption can be controlled by the remote sitethrough a pseudorandom number public key transmission such that thecoded message cannot be decoded except by the remote site and thuscannot be spoofed.

Occasionally the message can be blocked and thus not reach the remotesite when expected. In that event the software can check whether thevehicle is in a known problem area such as a tunnel and if so request aretransmission. If a retransmission is not received in a reasonable timeor if there is no known natural blockage then the software can evoke thetheft in progress algorithm. Thus, a key feature of this preferredimplementation of this invention is to assume that there is atheft-in-progress whenever an expected message is not received as wellas when a problem is indicated by the error code. The action to be takenwhen either event occurs will depend in instructions from the shippingcompany. The remote site software knows when to expect a message sincethe time of the next message can be part of the message sent by thetrailer. At any time that an expected message is not received, theremote site can send a command to the trailer requesting aretransmission.

The trailer will have a resident processor that for a particular tripcan be programmed to contain information relating to the trailer ID, theauthorized Tractor ID, the cargo and how it is identified by the cargosensors, if present, and the expected output including tolerances of allthe resident sensors. The particular suite of resident sensors will ofcourse depend on the shipping company and the nature and value of thecargo. The processor needs to know what to expect from each of thesensors in the suite so that it knows that a particular output from aparticular sensor indicated intrusion into the trailer, for example. Aslong as the expected values are received the processor knows to send anencrypted OK error code. Similarly the processor is programmed to sendthe proper code relative to the sensor output if it is not what isexpected. One of the inputs to the processor can be the authorizeddriver. The identification of the driver will be discussed below but ingeneral the recognition system can be as simple as a password or ascomplicated as a fingerprint, palm or butt print, iris scan, voiceprint, gesture or other biometric identification. In addition to thesending of an error code, operation of the rig can be controlled basedon the authorization of the driver. Similarly the tractor ID can betransmitted to the trailer in a variety of unspoofable ways so that anerror code is generated if the wrong tractor is attached to the trailer.

The planned route can also be entered into and stored in the processorand a GPS receiver, also attached to the processor, can track thetrailer and compare its actual location with the planned location andsend an error code if there is a discrepancy beyond the establishedtolerance. This comparison of the planned versus actual route can alsobe performed at the remote site. The data required by the processor canbe entered either by the shipping company when the trailer is loaded, atthe start of the trip or at any other convenient time. When the driveris ready to leave the embarkation location, for example, he can phonethe shipping company home office which can then wirelessly communicatewith the processor downloading the required data in encrypted form. Thedecrypting key can also be transmitted in a manner that cannot be usedby a potential thief as is well known to encryption experts or it can beresident in the processor memory.

In the above manner, the trailer can be digitally connected with thetractor and the driver such that if any unauthorized change is made toeither an error code is sent to the remote site for resolution. If nomessage is received the remote site software also acts as if atheft-in-progress code was received. The shipping or other authorizedpersons can access the status and location of the container via theinternet at any time to check on the shipment and its propertiesconsistent with the onboard sensor suite. Thus the information system isin place to determine in a manner of seconds or minutes whether a thefthas occurred or is occurring. Additionally, suitable security can beprovided to ensure that this information is not freely available to thegeneral public. Redundancy can be provided to prevent the destruction orany failure of a particular remote site as is now common in cloud basedsystems.

EXAMPLES Simple Cargo Movement

The simplest method of implementing a portion of the invention is to usea cell phone, PDA or other portable device with the appropriateapplication. Cell phones, or smartphones, that are now sold contain aGPS-based location system as do many other devices such as PDAs, iPADsor equivalents. Such a system along with minimal additional apparatuscan be used to practice the teachings disclosed herein. In this case,the cell phone, PDA or similar portable device can be mounted through asnap-in attachment system, for example, wherein one or more portabledevices can be firmly attached to the container and perhaps inside thetractor. The device(s) can at that point, for example, obtain an IDnumber from the container through a variety of methods such as awireless RFID, SAW or hardwired based system. It can also connect to achosen remote site using SMS text messaging or similar system. Since theportable device would only operate on a low duty cycle, the batteryshould last for many days or perhaps longer. Of course, if it isconnected to the vehicle power system, its life can be indefinite. Whenpower is waning, this fact can be sent to the cell phone system to alertthe appropriate personnel. Since a cell phone contains a microphone, itcan be trained, using an appropriate pattern recognition system, torecognize the sound of an accident, other sounds indicative of anintrusion such as forced entry or an unfamiliar voice, the deployment ofan airbag or similar event. It thus becomes a very low cost OnStar® typetelematics system as well as a theft notification and prevention system.The GPS system can be used to sense vehicle motion and to track thetrailer on its route.

Receiving software can be established at the chosen remote site toprovide most of the functions described herein for the more professionalsystem. All of the sensors disclosed herein can either be incorporatedinto the portable device or placed on the vehicle and connected to theportable device when the device is attached to the vehicle. This systemhas a key advantage of avoiding obsolescence. With technology rapidlychanging, the portable device can be exchanged for a later model orupgraded as needed or desired, keeping the overall system at the highesttechnical state. Existing telematics systems such as OnStar® or Sync canof course also be used with this system. The device would of course beaccessible to a thief but disabling it would still be difficult sinceonce programmed and the system initiated, the remote site could takeaction if it received an error message or no message at all. Deviationfrom the planned route and unexpected delays can also be dealt with asabove. Changes in the monitoring functions can be controlled by theshipping company and be out of control of the driver. Thus, anyinterruption in the planned trip can trigger an alarm and evoke remedialaction to stop the theft-on-progress.

Additionally, an automatic emergency notification system can now be madeavailable to all owners of appropriately configured cell phones, PDAs,or other similar portable devices that can operate on a very low costbasis without the need for a monthly subscription since they can bedesigned to operate only on an exception basis. Owners would pay only asthey use the service. Stolen container location, automatic notificationin the event of a crash even with the transmission of a picture forcamera-equipped devices is now possible. Automatic door unlocking canalso be done by the device since it could transmit a signal to thevehicle, in a similar fashion as a keyless entry system, from eitherinside or outside the vehicle. The phone can be equipped with abiometric identification system such as fingerprint, butt print, palmprint, voice print, gesture, facial or iris recognition etc. therebygiving that capability to vehicles and improving the functioning of thetheft prevention system. The device can thus become the general key tothe vehicle. In particular it can be used to positively identify theauthorized driver of a tractor and then automatically unlock the vehicledoor as the driver approaches and lock it as he leaves the vehicle. Ifthe cell phone is lost, its whereabouts can be instantly found since ithas a GPS receiver and thus knows where it is. If it is stolen, it willbecome inoperable without the biometric identification from theauthorized driver or wireless authorization from the owner or shipper.

Using the any of the various communication systems described above, anautomatic crash notification system can be built. The crash can besensed by the airbag crash or rollover sensors or the deployment of theairbag event can be sensed to trigger the communication of the event.The system can be powered by the vehicle power or a battery can be usedthat has a very long life since the system can be designed to drawlittle current until the event. Cell phones are now common that needinfrequent charging such as once per week. An advantage of aself-powered system is that it can be more easily retrofitted toexisting vehicles. Additionally, a self-powered system would stilloperate on the loss of vehicle power which can happen during a crash. Itmay be desirable to continue to transmit emergency notification signalseven after the crash or trailer theft if help does not arrive or tocommunicate with the crashed vehicle to obtain confirming or additionalinformation.

This self-contained system can use a microphone, for example, to sense atheft, crash, rollover or airbag deployment and thus the only wiringrequired would be to the communication system which also could becontained within the unit. In some cases, the unit can be on a vehiclebus, such as the safety bus, where it can derive both power and crashinformation. A backup power supply in the form of a capacitor or fuelcell can also be provided. The communication system can be any of thosementioned above including cellular phone system perhaps using textmessaging such as SMS or, preferably, a ubiquitous internet system suchas LTE or WiMAX. Such a ubiquitous system is not yet in service but theinventors believe that the arguments for such a system are overwhelmingat least partially due to the inventions disclosed herein and thus itwill occur probably in time for the deployment of a universal automaticcrash or theft notification system as described herein.

Basic System

The basic non-cell phone resident system as described herein can includea processor securely mounted on the container and protected fromdestruction or tampering. It can be wirelessly programmed and loadedwith the appropriate data by the shipping company or the driver prior tothe trip. Once the trip is initiated, a stream of messages is sent to aremote site over the chosen communication system and reviewed bysoftware at the remote site for the presence of an error code and fortimeliness. If a message does not arrive when expected then the softwarebegins notifying interested parties as described above. There is abalance between false alarms caused by a missed message and the cost ofsounding the alarm. If, for example, authorities are sent to the lastknown location of the trailer and a theft is found not to be in progressthen there is a cost to society of the false alarm and if this occursfrequently then the shipping company, which sets the parameters, can beexpected to be charged or fined for the false alarms. Recognizing thisin advance, provisions can be made to automatically transfer a paymentfrom the shipping company to the responding authorities, the statepolice for example, for each false alarm or perhaps for each alarm. Sucha system will help cover the cost of maintaining the state police andaid in the establishment of realistic parameters for asking forassistance.

Advanced System

Various levels of sophistication can be added to the basic systemincluding the detection and reporting of intrusion into the shippingcontainer, the monitoring of the cargo, monitoring and authentication ofthe driver, the sensing of occupants within the tractor and the trailerand more detailed route tracking. In the latter case, for example, thedriver can be allowed various degrees of discretion in the choice andmodification of the route depending on the confidence that the shippingcompany has in a particular driver and the value of the cargo.

Hazardous Cargo

The system described herein lends itself to the seamless monitoring ofhazardous cargo to prevent this cargo from causing harm to thepopulation or the infrastructure either due to terrorist activity or toaccidents. Since each trailer that is tracked in the system can bemonitored, a requirement can be instituted that all trailers, includingrailroad cars, that are carrying hazardous cargo must be registered onthe system and the nature of the hazardous cargo identified. If, forexample, such a vehicle is on a path to enter a tunnel or traverse abridge where it is forbidden, the authorities can be notified well inadvance of the occurrence in time to prevent it from happening. Theplanned route will be known in advance and any deviation from the routecan cause an alarm. A cessation of transmitted messages also willsignify a potential problem resulting in an immediate warning messagebeing transmitted to authorities in the vicinity.

Through this system, all of the important information relative to thecontents of containers containing hazardous material moving throughoutthe United States will be available on the Internet on a need-to-knowbasis. Thus, law enforcement agencies can maintain computer programsthat will monitor the contents of containers using information availablefrom the Internet or other system in a similar manner that ADS-B willallow the monitoring of all equipped aircraft worldwide when fullyimplemented. The transportation of fuel oil or fertilizer by themselvesis not cause for alarm but if both are converging on the same locationthen an alarm can be sounded, for example.

Borders

The ID for containers involved in international trade can be part of anational or international database that contains information as to thecontents of the container. If such containers are equipped with varioussensors such as intrusion detectors or security seals which can bewirelessly scanned to determine that the integrity of the container hasnot been breached during its ride on a container ship or trailer, forexample, then such containers can pass borders with minimum delay andinspection. This is based on the integrity of the shipping company. Anybreach of this integrity caused by a container found with contraband canresult in the blacklisting and demise of the company. As long as themonitoring procedures described herein are followed when the containerleaves the embarkation point in a country and continues until it reachesits final receiving location then the integrity of the container isguaranteed. Since a container cannot be stolen while it is onboard acontainer ship, message transmissions can be suspended under programcontrol on the container until the container ship reached a port wherethe container is unloaded at which point the messaging is automaticallyrestarted.

It is expected that monitoring of the transportation of cargo containerswill dramatically increase as the efforts to reduce cargo theft andterrorist activities also increase. If every container that passeswithin the borders of the United States has a unique identificationnumber, similar to a license plate, and that number is in a databasethat provides the contents of that container, then the use of shippingcontainers by terrorists or criminals should gradually be eliminated.This ID should be of a form that is not easily separable from thecontainer and it should be capable of being interrogated wirelessly asare toll tags such as EZ-Pass. If these containers are carefullymonitored by the communication system described herein, any unusualactivity related to a container is immediately flagged and investigatedand the cargo transportation system will gradually approach perfection.Thus, terrorists and criminals are denied this means of transportingcontraband or stolen material into, out of and within the United States.If any container is found containing contraband material, then theentire history of how that container entered the United States can bechecked to determine the source of the failure. If the failure is foundto have occurred at a loading port outside of the United States, thensanctions can be imposed on the host country and the shipping companyresponsible which can have serious effects on that company's orcountry's ability to trade worldwide. Just the threat of such an actionis a significant deterrent. Thus, the use of containers to transporthazardous materials or weapons of mass destruction as well as people,narcotics, or other contraband as well as stolen cargo can beeffectively eliminated through the use of the container monitoringsystem disclosed herein. Note that since the container used in ashipment will be identified by the shipping company at the start of atrip and monitored throughout the trip, theft of an ID tag will be oflittle value to a thief.

Prior to the entry of a container ship into a harbor, a Coast Guard boatfrom the U.S. Customs Service can approach the container vessel and scanall of the containers thereon to be sure that all such containers areregistered and tracked including their contents. Before the ship isallowed to unload a container, the seals on that container can bescanned to assure that the container integrity has not been compromised.Furthermore, the identification and location of all containers on acontainer ship can be required information provided by the containership owner thus further making it difficult for a rogue container to bepresent.

Containers that enter the United States through land ports of entry canalso be interrogated in a similar fashion. As long as the shipper isknown and reputable and the container contents are in the database,which would be accessible over the Internet, is properly updated, thenall containers will be effectively monitored that enter the UnitedStates. The penalty of an error will result in the disenfranchisement ofthe shipper, and perhaps sanctions against the country, which for mostreputable shippers or shipping companies would be a severe penaltysufficient to cause such shippers or shipping companies to takeappropriate action to assure the integrity of the shipping containers.Intelligent selected random inspections guided by the container historycould of course still take place.

This monitoring of containers can result in a permanent recordcontaining the experiences of the container over time as a containerhistory record to help in life cycle analysis to determine when acontainer needs refurbishing, for example. This history in coded formcould reside on a memory that is resident on the container or preferablythe information can be stored on a computer file associated with thatcontainer in a database which can be located at a remote site such as acloud storage facility. The mere knowledge of where a container hasbeen, for example, may aid law enforcement authorities to determinewhich containers are most likely to contain illegal contraband.Additionally, the verifiable knowledge of the location of all registeredcontainers will prevent the use of a false ID.

Network

The remote site discussed above will receive the message data from thetraveling containers and process this message data to determine thestatus of the shipping container. This remote site will in factphysically comprise a number of remote sites whose locations will bedetermined based of available communication lines, communicationdistances and other considerations. For each traveling container, theremote site will scan incoming messages, check for error codes andupdate the status file for that container. As discussed above, when anerror code is encountered, or an expected message not received, thesoftware will automatically execute procedures as instructed by theshipping company. The procedures can involve alerts being transmitted tothe driver, other truckers in the vicinity, the shipping company, thecargo owner, a drone site, and/or authorities such as the state police.

Specific Problems

Although cell phone coverage is rapidly approaching ubiquity, there arelocations such as tunnels where cell phone coverage can be lost. Theselocations are known and if a container is known to be in such a locationthe remote site software will know that one or more messages can bedelayed. Since it is contemplated that messages from a moving containerwill be sent on the order of every several minutes, unless there is atraffic jam no more than one message should be lost. If this becomes arecurring problem the cellphone companies can be required to installadditional transmitters at such locations. A potential problem involvesa thief stopping a rig in a tunnel, for example, long enough for thethief to hijack the rig under gun point without causing a significantmessage loss. The solution to this problem lies in driver identificationand security measures discussed below.

In a similar situation, an area can be jammed preventing messages fromthe trailer from being transmitted to the remote site. Jamming is bothillegal and detectable by the cellphone company. Information concerningthe existence of jamming and the frequencies affected can be sent to theremote site by the cell phone company. The remote site then can instructthe trailers in the area to change channels if there are channelsavailable that are not jammed and to increase the transmission frequencywhile the trailer is in the jammed area. In the meantime the authoritiescan be notified and informed of the location of the jamming equipment.Drones, as discussed below, can be deployed if the situation is deemedsufficiently serious. This is one of many failure modes that willinitially exist in the system of this invention and which can begradually dealt with as perfection is approached.

If the tractor, train, plane or ship that is transporting a container isexperiencing difficulties, then this information can be transmittedthrough the communication channel to the remote site and then to one ormore interested parties according to the instructions of the shippingcompany for attention. Information indicating a problem with the carrier(railroad, tractor, plane or boat) may be sensed by sensors on thecontainer and reported as an error code. For example, sensors on thecontainer can determine through vibrations etc. that the carrier may beexperiencing problems. The reporting of problems with the carrier cancome from dedicated sensors or from a general diagnostic system such asdescribed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,809,437 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,175,787.Whatever the source of the diagnostic information, especially whenvaluable or dangerous cargo is involved, this information in coded formcan be transmitted to the remote site as discussed above.

Conclusion

Once the remote site has received a message from the sensor systemdisclosed herein, it can make available the data on the internet wheresubscribers or other authorized parties can retrieve the data and use itfor their own purposes. Since such sensor systems are novel to at leastone of the inventions disclosed herein, the transmission of the data viathe internet, or via the communication channels disclosed here and theSMS or other texting technology, and the business model of providingsuch data to subscribing customers and other authorized users either onan as-needed basis or on a push basis where the customer receives analert or other information, is also novel. Thus, for example, aninterested party may receive an urgent automatically-generated e-mailmessage, phone call or even a pop-up message on a particular screen thatthere is a problem with a particular asset that needs immediateattention. In some cases the remote site software may require anacknowledgment which if not received can cause the site to make furtherattempts to notify the interested party. The interested party can be asubscriber, a law enforcement facility, or an emergency servicesfacility, among others.

The initial communication system will probably use the SMS or similartext messaging system where the sender ID is its phone number. Thus, thephone number can also be the trailer ID number at least in earlydeployed systems. In the event the phone number of the device will needto be changed if the hardware is moved from one trailer to another ascould easily be the case when the device is a iPhone, iPad orequivalent. Under these circumstances the trailer would need to have anID different from the phone number and a list pairing trailer IDs, whichhopefully would reside on a trailer resident RFID or similar device,with the sending phone numbers. Each time a trip is initiated, in thiscase, the first transmission to the remote site would need to containthe pairing of the phone number with the RFID, or equivalent, readtrailer ID. Naturally, this needs to be done with some care to preventspoofing.

Another form of communication to be activated in the event of anattempted or actual theft is to position one or more auxiliarytransmitters on the trailer which can be remotely triggered in the eventthat the primary system has been disabled. These transmitters canoperate at different frequencies and/or use frequency hopping ortransmit as ultra-wideband devices and can serve as beacons to enablethe authorities, drones or other truckers to locate and track a stolentrailer. If several such devices are hidden on the trailer then as eachone is silenced another can take over. This will be discussed in moredetail below.

4. On Vehicle Theft Countermeasures

The invention described in this section principally relates to theftprevention systems for trailers, particularly those used in anover-the-road tractor-trailer vehicle combination commonly referred toas an “18-wheeler”. These trailers are almost universally provided withpneumatic braking systems which include a parking/emergency brake withbrake shoes, in the case of drum brakes, or brake pads carried by acaliper, in the case of disk brakes, urged to the braking position byspring means in the absence of pneumatic pressure supplied to thebraking system.

In this common arrangement, a parked trailer being disconnected from thetractor vehicle with its source of air pressure will have itsparking/emergency brakes urged to full braking position preventing thetrailer from rolling or being moved. However, the trailer can be movedby any standard tractor vehicle having the usual air hose and electricalconnections. Once a tractor is connected with its air hoses to thetrailer and the trailer braking system is pressurized, the parkingbrakes air pressure causes the spring forces to be overcome so that theparking brakes are no longer applied.

Numerous designs have been employed to prevent or deter theft of aparked trailer, including systems which require some action in additionto connecting air and power lines. Some of the theft deterrent systemsincorporate a solenoid or motor operated valve in the appropriate airline between the tractor and the trailer wheels and have a key lockswitch or other device required to energize the solenoid or motor. Thevalve will open when the key switch is closed to allow air pressure fromthe tractor to release the brakes on the wheels of the trailer. However,even if a key is required for the valve to operate, the system can beeasily defeated by braking into the valve housing and shorting the keyswitch or, in the case where this is not accessible, by bypassing thevalve with a new air hose. The air line is always accessible somewherein its path from the tractor to the brakes. The line is cut and a newline that bypasses the key valve installed. Such an action can generallybe accomplished in a few minutes or less with the proper tools.

Various countermeasures such as vehicle immobilization can be used toremotely disable a stolen vehicle and aid in its recovery. Other knowncountermeasures include king pin locks that prevent the tractor andtrailer from being separated, air brake valve locks that prevent brakerelease, and glad hand locks that lock the trailer's air line. Sealsalso limit intrusion and create an alert that doors have been tamperedwith. This fact can be sensed and reported off site through thecommunication system described herein, for example. Othercountermeasures include causing one or more tires to deflate, soundingan alarm, disabling the power train or locking the brakes are possiblebut once the thieves learn about any of these countermeasures they willdevelop a method of defeating them. At the very least, fleets should beusing tamper-proof locks and door hinges. Most, if not all, of the truckmanufacturers now offer password-protected ignition lock-out systems.

The first new countermeasure that can be used is to notify the driverthat a theft is in progress which can be triggered by any of the eventsdescribed elsewhere herein. Thieves are reluctant to steal a trailer ifthe driver is present as this can lead to an armed robbery or anotherfelony. If the trailer is in an area where other truckers are presentthen notifying all trucks in the vicinity can cause one or more trucksto attempt to block the motion of the stolen trailer or, as a minimum,to follow it and report its location until the authorities arrive.Naturally, a reward can be given to a trucker that successfully preventsa cargo theft.

Sophisticated thieves can determine a fix for most any countermeasurethat is installed on a trailer. Nevertheless, each of these fixes orwork-arounds consumes time which makes their capture more likely. Onesuch countermeasure can involve rendering the trailer unmovable such asby locking the brakes, making the tires flat, immobilizing one or moreaxels, preventing the trailer from turning etc. If, for example, adevice is placed on the trailer that engaged the emergency or parkingbrake system by depleting the compressed air from the compressed aircylinder that feeds the emergency or parking brakes whenever the trailerwas parked and/or detached from the appropriate tractor, then stealingthe trailer would be rendered more difficult. Naturally, the thieves candevise a method to supply air to the lines that feed the emergencybrakes or they can otherwise modify the brakes so that they disengagebut this will consume time. What follows is a description of a typicalair brake system from Wikipedia.

“Compressed air brake systems are typically used on heavy trucks andbuses (Note the difference between pneumatic brakes andpneumatic/hydraulic). The system consists of service brakes, parkingbrakes, a control pedal, an engine-driven air compressor and acompressed air storage tank. For the parking brake, there is a disc ordrum brake arrangement which is designed to be held in the ‘applied’position by spring pressure. Air pressure must be produced to releasethese “spring brake” parking brakes. For the service brakes (the onesused while driving for slowing or stopping) to be applied, the brakepedal is pushed, routing the air under pressure (approximately 100-125psi) to the brake chamber, causing the brake to reduce wheel rotationspeed. Most types of truck air brakes are drum units, though there is anincreasing trend towards the use of disc brakes in this application. Theair compressor draws filtered air from the atmosphere and forces it intohigh-pressure reservoirs at around 120 PSI. Most heavy vehicles have agauge within the driver's view, indicating the availability of airpressure for safe vehicle operation, often including warning tones orlights. Setting of the parking/emergency brake releases the pressurizedair pressure in the lines between the compressed air storage tank andthe brakes, thus actuating the (spring brake) parking braking hardware.An air pressure failure at any point would apply full spring brakepressure immediately.

“Brakes are applied by pushing down the brake pedal. (It is also calledthe foot valve or treadle valve.) Pushing the pedal down harder appliesmore air pressure. Letting up on the brake pedal reduces the airpressure and releases the brakes. Releasing the brakes lets somecompressed air go out of the system, so the air pressure in the tanks isreduced. It must be made up by the air compressor. Pressing andreleasing the pedal unnecessarily can let air out faster than thecompressor can replace it. If the pressure gets too low, the brakeswon't work.

“These large vehicles also have an emergency brake system, in which thecompressed air holds back a mechanical force (usually a spring) whichwill otherwise engage the brakes. Hence, if air pressure is lost for anyreason, the brakes will engage and bring the vehicle to a stop.”

Not all trailers have emergency or parking brake systems that engage thebrakes when a source of air pressure is not present. For those that donot then a radio-activated valve or explosive device within the vehicletires can perform a similar function at the cost of possible tirereplacement. However, most modern trailers especially those carryinghigh value cargo do have such systems and thus only such systems will beaddressed in this section. Since every system that can be devised canalso be circumvented by determined and sophisticated thieves the goalhere is to render the circumvention as time consuming as possible. FIG.22 illustrates a block diagram of such a system.

The compressed air required to release an emergency or parking brakeflows through a brake dump valve at the airbrake assembly at each wheelas described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,923,509. A wire connects each of thedump valves to the trailer power cable which in turn connects to thepower supply cable from the tractor. Information to indicate to eachdump valve to close allowing air pressure to release the brake can betransmitted from the tractor either wirelessly, in which case an antennawould be present on the trailer to receive the wireless transmission anda corresponding antenna on the tractor, as a modulated signal over thepower cable or on a separate wire. Each dump valve responds to theproper message from the tractor and if it received the proper messagethen the valve opens or closes depending on the message. In animplementation of the invention in the '509 patent in conjunction withthe teachings herein, the message can also be sent by a remote site orby the driver with a hand held device such as a smart phone. The SMSprotocol can be used as discussed above. If power is disconnected thenthe valve can open dumping the compressed air and engaging the brakes.Thus, if any of the valves do not receive the proper message then thebrakes are engaged and the trailer is unable to be moved. The codedmessage can change from transmission to transmission as known to thosein the art of wireless entry fobs making it difficult or impossible fora spoofing transmitter to operate the valves. Since each valve can haveits own ECU for receiving and decoding the messages and each ECU isattached to the valve, disabling the system may require disassemblingeach airbrake device at each of the tires and/or requires dismountingsome or all of the tires which is a time consuming process.

However, the system can alternatively be simply disabled by severing therod from the airbrake system to the drum or disk brake mechanism. Withthe proper tools this can be done in perhaps less than a minute therebydefeating the system and allowing driving off with the stolen cargotrailer. Although the remote site may be aware that a theft is inprogress, depending on the sensor suit on the trailer, there is probablyinsufficient time to prevent it and the remote site may not even beaware of the theft until the trailer is on its way. The thief will haveto drive the trailer without functioning brakes but if the load islight, and the roads level, this may not interfere significantly withhis driving maneuverability especially if the distance to a stagingwarehouse is short. Various sensors can be placed on the brake mechanismthat can indicate that the brake has been released but again this allowslittle time to stop the theft.

All of the theft prevention systems based on immobilization so fardescribed in the prior art can thus be easily defeated by a thief withthe proper equipment. What is needed, therefore, is a system thatresults in a considerable delay before a trailer can be moved. Two suchsystems will now be described based on systems that mechanically lockthe brakes in the engaged position and require the removal of thetrailer wheels to obtain access and allow disablement. The removal of awheel requires jacking the trailer at each wheel and the removal of manynuts, which forces the thief to consume considerable time. Appropriatesensors coupled with the communication system indicate that such anaction is in progress and thus the remote site is provided significanttime to take theft prevention actions such as informing the lawenforcement authorities in the area. In fact, with appropriate sensors,before the thief begins the remote monitoring site is aware that a theftis in progress there should be ample time for law enforcement personnelto arrive before the trailer can be moved. Various additional techniquescan be employed to further retard the tire removal process such as theuse of locked lug nuts or nuts with an unusual profile requiring specialtools for their removal.

Looking now at a drum brake locking system as shown in FIGS. 30-30E.FIGS. 30A-E illustrate the use of a ratchet wheel 801 in conjunctionwith a drum brake shown generally at 800 in FIG. 30. Pawls 802 engagewith the ratchet wheel when the parking brake is activated and preventrotation of an S-Cam 803 until they are withdrawn by an activatingsolenoid 804 of a solenoid assembly. As shown in FIGS. 30A-30D, twopawls 802 are arranged on opposite sides of the ratchet wheel 801,although this position is not intended to limit the invention. Thus,there are two solenoid assemblies, each associated with a respective oneof the pawls 802 (see FIGS. 30A and 30B). The activating solenoid 804 iscontrolled by a brake lockout controller 805 which receives messagesfrom the communication system as elsewhere herein. The brake lockoutmechanism is situated and shielded with a plate and mud guard 820 suchthat removal of the associated wheel is required to gain access to anddefeat the brake lockout device. The controller 805 contains a processorand circuitry which is configured to decode signals sent eitherwirelessly, over the vehicle power line or on a dedicated communicationwire from either a device located on the vehicle tractor or anotherdevice which may be portable, such as a smartphone, or remote from thevehicle.

It is important to note that for some heavy duty trailers, the brakearea can achieve temperatures as high as 300 degrees Celsius which issufficient to destroy or immobilize most electronic systems. In mostcases the brake locking system will only be activated after the trailerhas come to rest and cooled down. Thermally activated mechanicalswitches can prevent the circuitry from being powered until thetemperature has reached a safe to operate level. Nevertheless, justexposure to these temperatures can destroy or make permanent changes tothe electrical characteristics of various components that make up commonelectrical and electronic circuits. Circuits can be constructed ofspecial materials such as gallium arsenide but this can have asignificant effect on the cost and reliability of such components andcircuits. For those vehicles where excessive temperatures can occur inthe brake areas, therefore, an alternative approach is required. Suchsystems can place the electronic controller 805 outside of the brakearea and attach it to the ratchet moving solenoids or motors throughwires to an electromechanical based decoding mechanism located withinthe brake area. In this case the controller 805 will send a coded signalover the power line, or through dedicated wires, to the ratchetmechanism which will go first through a mechanical decoding mechanismand if the mechanism experiences the proper code it will connect thepower to the ratchet solenoids or motors in such a manner as to engageor release the ratchet wheel as desired. In one implementation, forexample, the current to drive the pawl solenoids or motors is controlledby an assembly of three stepping switches designed to operate in a hightemperature environment. When the stepping switches are all at their “0”or at home position, current can be provided to the solenoids or motorsto cause the pawls to engage the ratchet wheels. When the ratchet wheelsare so engaged a mechanical switch engaged by the motion of the pawlrods turns off the current causing the ratchet wheels to remain locked.Later when the controller 805 sends the proper number of pulses to eachof the three stepping switches, the current is caused to flow to thesolenoids or motors to cause the ratchet wheels to be released. Again amechanical switch at the end to the solenoid or motor rod turns thecurrent off. If each stepping switch has 50 positions then the number ofpossible codes to release the brake locks is 125,000. If it takes 0.1seconds to step each of the stepping switches, then it would take over 3minutes to try all combinations. Additional delays can be inserted suchas turning the current on when the switch is supposed to be in therelease position and if it is not a 1 minute delay can be inserted bythose skilled in the art. Each wheel would have a unique code forreleasing the brake lock which would be sent by the controller 805 frominformation sent by the coded transmission system (see FIG. 30).

The use of remote electronics and stepping motor operated switches isillustrated in FIG. 32 wherein the electronic controller 805 has beenremoved from the brake area where high temperatures can be experienced,to a convenient location outside of this area. A wire 812 connects thecontroller to an assembly of three motorized high temperature steppingswitches 811 which are connected to the pawl motors or solenoids (e.g.,the solenoid assemblies including the activating solenoid 804) byappropriate wire or other electrical connections (not shown). A wirelessconnection is also possible.

The pawls 802 and ratchet wheel 801 are designed so that when the pawls802 are engaged, the ratchet wheel 801 can rotate in a clockwisedirection in the figure without disengaging the pawls 802 from theratchet wheel 801 but not in the counterclockwise direction. Thus, theforce exerted on the brake pads by the S-Cam 803 can increase as thebrakes are applied but not decreased without removal of the pawls 802.Thus, once the brakes are applied they are locked in place until thesolenoid or motor is activated to remove the pawls 802 from locking theratchet wheel 801.

The solenoid assembly is designed as a bi-stable system. When thecurrent in the activating coil 806 is applied in one direction it willcause the magnetized solenoid armature to withdraw the pawls 802 fromengagement with the ratchet wheel 801 and when the current is applied inthe other direction, the pawls 802 are forced into engagement with theratchet wheel 801. After the solenoid arm is caused to move in one orthe other direction, it is detented into position by detent balls 807which engage with grooves 808 or 809 under a force supplied by spring810. Groove 809 is slanted so as to urge the solenoid armature towardthe ratchet wheel 801 so that the pawl 802 is spring-biased towardengagement to allow for tolerances and the case where the pawl 802 restson top of a ratchet wheel tooth. The pawls 802 can be slightly displacedfrom one another as shown in FIG. 30E so that in the rare case when theteeth of a pawl 802 land on the teeth of the ratchet wheel 801, only oneof the pawls 802 can temporarily hang up. Additionally, the ratchetwheel teeth can be removed from a portion of the wheel that correspondsto the brake off condition so that if for any reason the system failsand tries to engage the lock when the brake in not activated, it cannotdo so and thus create an unsafe brake locking condition. Other fail safemechanisms can additionally be employed depending on safety requirementsincluding, for example, a lockout of the system if the vehicle wheel ismoving.

This design, therefore, locks each wheel where it is implemented toprevent movement of a trailer or tractor unless the proper electronicsignal is received by the controller 805. This signal can emanate from asmartphone in the possession of the authorized driver, for example, andbe transmitted wirelessly to the controller 805. The smartphone cancontain a face, palm or fingerprint recognition capability, for example,to verify the identity of the operator of the smartphone. Once theproper coded signal is received by the controller 805, a current is sentto the solenoid coil in the proper direction to cause the pawls to beremoved from engaging the ratchet wheel releasing the brake lock. Todefeat the system a thief must remove the wheel which is a timeconsuming activity. Such a system can be applied to one or more of thewheels in a simple retrofit manner to increase the difficulty of theftto any degree desired. Of course other systems than a smartphone canimplement the same or similar strategies such as a vehicle tractorresident system or a system that requires authorization from a remotesite. When the chance of theft is minimum such as when the trailer isempty or located in a secure holding yard, the authorized driver orremote site can issue a coded command which removes the pawls 802 fromengagement with the ratchet wheel 801 and disables the system until itis enabled again. The state of the system can be coded into the SMSmessages sent to the remote site. In normal operation, the pawls 802will automatically engage whenever some event such as engine shutoffoccurs and to disengage the pawls 802 requires the receipt of the propercoded message. The coded message can be chosen so that it varies in aknown pseudo random manner to make it difficult or impossible to spoof.

The solenoids are configured such that they can act in a bidirectionalmanner and remain in either the engaged on disengaged state when nopower is present. This prevents the accidental operation of the brakelock system if power is accidently removed from the locking system whenthe vehicle is in motion, for example. Also the brakes will remainlocked in the absence of power indefinitely preventing movement of thevehicle until power is supplied and the proper coded message received bythe controller 805.

To achieve the bidirectional feature, an upper portion 821 of thesolenoid rod either is made from magnetized magnetic material orcomprises a permanent magnet. Portion 821 is magnetized along its axissuch that a current in one direction in the coil 806 causes the solenoidrod to move downward as shown in FIG. 30C or upward as shown in FIG.30D. Although for simplicity a solenoid version of the invention hasbeen illustrated, the preferred approach is to use a small motor to movethe pawl into engagement and disengagement. The motor can operatethrough a rack and pinion, worm gear or cycloidal drive as is known tothose skilled in the art for transforming the high speed low torque of amotor to a high force slow linear motion of a rod. Naturally many othermechanisms are available to move a pawl or equivalent into engagementwith the ratchet wheel some involving linear and other involving rotarymotion. The detent balls and grooves in general would not be necessarywhen motors are used since the rod is unlikely to move when the motor isnot powered.

FIGS. 31A-31C illustrate a mechanism for use with disk brakes whichsimilarly prevents rotation of the disk rotor when engaged. In thisdesign two solenoid pins are inserted along radii into the disk rotoritself such that the rotor is prevented from rotating. The solenoid pins835 are removed by the electric currents in the appropriate activatingcoils under direction of a brake lockout control module (not shown) in asimilar manner as with the drum brake system of FIG. 30. The solenoiddriven pins 835 engage the disk rotor 831 in the radial slots 834provided in the disk rotor 831. The solenoid assemblies can be attachedon either side of the caliper 832 as shown in FIG. 31C or in some otherappropriate mounting configuration. In some cases a single solenoidassembly is sufficient and in others more than two can be used. Forcases where the disk rotor does not have radial slots an alternativearrangement can be used such as providing holes or slots through thedisk rotor parallel to the rotation axis or to mount a ratchet wheel tothe face of the disk rotor. In the axial parallel holes case the rotormay need to rotate some amount before the pins enter the appropriatehole and thus there would need to be a force provided such as by anangled ball detent grove to urge the pin into a hole without the needfor continuous power. This would operate in a similar manner as the balldetents in the ratchet wheel example of the drum brake ratchet wheelcase.

Naturally many other designs will now become obvious to those skilled inthe art for mechanisms which in a similar manner lock the brakes in anengaged position or otherwise prevent a wheel from rotating whencommanded to do so by an appropriate control module. Pins can beinserted into the brake drum under solenoid or motor control to preventit from rotating as in the disk case or the brake pads in the disk brakecaliper can be held against the rotor by appropriate motor baseddesigns. In general bidirectional motors, stepping motors or otheractuators can be used where solenoids are illustrated in the figures.The basic principle in each case is to lock the wheel in such a manneras to prevent it from rotating until an appropriate message has beenreceived by the control module and to do so in such a manner that thethief cannot access the mechanism without removal of the vehicle wheel.Since removal of the wheel is time consuming the theft is delayed. Ifthe system is put on multiple wheels further delay results. Any of awide variety of sensors can be used to detect that a wheel removal is inprocess and that fact can be coded into the SMS or equivalent messageperiodically sent to the remote site. Examples of such sensors are: anacoustic or vibration sensor located where it can sense the noise orvibration associated with removal of a wheel, an accelerometer or anglesensor which indicated that the trailer is being jacked up, a straingage on the airbrake rod indicating that the force from the airbrake tothe brake mechanism has been reduced, and others. If the remote sitedoes not receive the expected message or if it receives the message withthe theft-in-progress code then it can initiate the process ofpreventing the theft.

The creation of the brake lockout code can be done either in thetractor, on a smart wireless RFID fob or by a cell phone or smartphone.In the latter case the monitoring office can compose the coded messageand transmit it to the driver's cell phone after verifying that thedriver is in possession of his cell phone, is in the tractor and has notbeen abducted. In this manner trailer security is significantlyenhanced. A biometric sensor such as a fingerprint, palm, face or voicerecognition system, can be used with the transmitting device to verifythe driver.

The brakes lockout should be set in this manner whenever the driver isabsent. Additionally the brakes can be engaged if anything goes wronghowever care must be exercised if the trailer is in motion so as not tocause an accident or facilitate a theft of the cargo.

There are situations when the brake lockout system may have to bedisabled. When the trailer is dropped off in a secure drop yard suchwhen it is to be loaded onto a container ship, ferry, rail car or othertransportation means or when the shipper is being changed such as canhappen at a border. This situation is known in advance and the lockoutdevice can be automatically disabled for so long as the trailer islocated in the secure drop yard. This can be accomplished merely by thetrailer knowing its GPS location, via a location or position determiningsystem arranged on the trailer or elsewhere with the resultant locationdetermination being provided to the trailer, and that within a certaingeographical area that the lockout system is to be deactivated. In othercases, a remote site can send a coded message to disable the lockoutsystem or can provide authorization to the driver to do so undercontrolled conditions. The controlled conditions can include againgeographical location and time duration. The lockout provision can alsobe disabled when the trailer is empty or at a secure location where itis being loaded or unloaded, that is, prior to the start of the plannedtrip or after it has arrived at its final destination and responsibilityis removed from the shipping company. This lockout feature should alsobe suppressed while the trailer is in motion so as not to cause anaccident.

In operation, the driver approaches or enters the cab and eithermanually sends a coded control signal to the brake lockout controller orthe system in the tractor does this automatically once the driver hasbeen identified. In the second case the driver does nothing differentthan he would do with a non-equipped trailer. If a non-system equipmenttruck or tractor or one without the proper authorization, attempts tomove a protected trailer, the driver will find that the brakes cannot bereleased normally by applying pressure to the parking air supply line inthe absence of a coded signal transmitted to the brake lockoutcontroller at each equipped wheel. The lockout system described hereinis not limited to single trailer rigs and may readily be adapted toprovide security for one or more tandem trailers and additionally forthe tractor.

5. Tracking a Stolen Trailer

Thieves may be able to steal a trailer in fifteen seconds but there is alimit to what they can do in that time period to disguise the trailer orprevent it from transmitting a signal from a hidden transmitter.Anything that can be done to slow the thieves gives more time for dronesand/or law enforcement personnel or equipment to arrive. Thus, thepainting of an ID on the top and sides of the trailer in paint that onlyreflects IR or UV light and/or the placement of a pattern embossed inthe roof that reflects radar in a manner as to reveal an ID can all bedefeated by sophisticated thieves once they know of their existence, butit will take time to do so. Similarly, transmitters can be hidden on thetrailer that are turned on by a combination of motion and the receipt ofa signal either from the trailer monitoring system or from the remotesite that can cause a transmission at a frequency that is unknown to thethieves. To continuously monitor for such transmissions as they aremaking their escape and to stop, locate and silence the transmittertakes time and slows down their escape and thus increases their chancesof being caught.

Another solution that is particularly applicable in areas and/or attimes when the targeted trailer is alone, is to use drone aircraft tophotographically capture the trailer and follow it until the authoritiesarrive. If purchased in sufficient quantity the price of such drones canbe as low as $1,000 to $10,000. Initially these drones can be stationedat areas that are known as high risk areas. The goal would be to have adrone stationed so that it need not travel more than 0.25 mile at anaverage speed of 60 mph, including takeoff, so that it can get to thecrime scene in 15 seconds or less. Naturally, most of the 50,000 milesof interstate highways are not likely locations for a trailer theft.Assuming that only 10% are such locations then two drones could bestationed per mile covering 5000 miles resulting in a need for 10,000drones. At a cost of $10,000 each the total cost to cover the interstatehighway system would be $100 million which is a small percentage of thecost of cargo theft. Even if it is desired to cover all of the 4 millionmiles or roads in the US and assuming that 1% are likely locations for acargo theft the cost is only an additional $100 million. Even if theannual operating cost is substantial, the total cost is still less thanon the order of $1 billion which is small in comparison to the cost oflost freight.

Another approach is to station drones on truck tractors and/or trailersso that at the first sign of an event indicative of a theft a drone canbe caused to takeoff and track the trailer photographically. If thedrone is disabled by the thieves, drones from trucks in the vicinity canget invoked. The presence of a ready to go drone can be part of themessage that is sent by trailers so that if one or more drones aredisabled this is immediately made known to the remote monitoring site.

A common tactic for cargo theft is for the perpetrators to know inadvance the route that a particular targeted trailer will take and wherethe driver is likely to stop for a rest, bathroom stop or for a meal.When the driver parks his rig and enters the facilities the thievesdrive another tractor to where the targeted trailer is parked, detachthe trailer from its tractor and attach it to the replacement tractor.Alternately the thief breaks into the tractor and hot wires the engineand drives away with the tractor and trailer. It has been reported thatthis can be done in as little as 15 seconds after which the new tractorand stolen trailer, or the original rig, is on its way before the theftis discovered by the driver. After this event occurs time is of theessence. In the process of stealing the tractor the thieves willfrequently electronically listen for any transmissions from the traileror tractor and attempt to destroy the transmitter or electronically jamor block the transmissions. Conventional systems transmit infrequentlyso it can be several minutes to an hour or so before the remote site isaware that a theft has occurred. By that time the thieves and cargo arelong gone.

The system disclosed herein solves this problem in a number of ways.First the transmissions from the trailer are very frequent such as onceper five to thirty seconds when the trailer is not moving on the highwayand that frequency increases to perhaps once per one to five secondswhen an event, as discussed elsewhere, occurs. When an event occurs thedriver is notified directly as well as the remote monitoring site. Ifthe transmissions cease either after or before an event has beendetected then both the remote site and the driver are alerted by themonitoring software. Thus, the monitoring site and driver are alertedwithin seconds of an attempted theft. The system on the trailer can alsobe programmed to listen for an acknowledgment from the remote site andretransmit the message if an acknowledgment is not received. This solvesthe problem where the trailer is in a tunnel or where a transmission isblocked for any reason. To minimize costs the remote site would notalways acknowledge a message transmission. If it did not receive anexpected transmission then it can send a request for a message andrepeat that request until a message is received after the traileremerges from the tunnel, for example.

The remote site can then alert authorities which can then drive to thesite of the trailer. If the trailer has identifiable markings then theauthorities have a chance of locating it if they can get to the theftsite before the thieves have gotten very far. However, the thievesfrequently cover the sides of the trailer with disguising posters,placards, signs or just paint making it more difficult to recognize.

Since the key is to obtain and maintain sight of the stolen trailer andsince it is likely in most cases that the law enforcement authoritieswill be too late, other methods are necessary. The first effort,therefore, can be to get the driver involved. His mere presence canthwart the attempted theft since the penalty for abduction, kidnapping,assault or armed robbery is considerably more severe than mere theft,thieves will in most cases flee if the driver approaches. Secondly, ifthe driver is a bit too late he can perhaps use his tractor, ifavailable, or convince another driver to allow him to ride with him asthey chase the stolen vehicle keeping it in sight while they are incommunication with the law enforcement converging on the stolen trailer.Thirdly, truckers in the vicinity can be made aware of the theft andconvinced to converge on the stolen trailer with the promise of areward. A reward may not be necessary as the trucking industry isacutely aware of the cargo theft problem and are vitally interested iseliminating the problem which takes a toll from all participants.Fourthly, ordinary citizens can in some cases be persuaded to follow astolen trailer if they see and can recognize it thereby helping to trackit until law enforcement personnel arrive. Trailers can also be equippedwith a remotely activated paint or smoke bomb. The paint bomb can colorthe rear doors making it easily identifiable and a smoke bomb hidden ontop of the trailer can emit an easily visible smoke trail lastingperhaps 30 minutes. Naturally other deployable systems will now beobvious to those skilled in the art.

If all else fails, drone aircraft can be judicially placed initially attruck stops and other locations where there has been a history of cargotheft and on command from the monitoring site can be launched, fly tothe trailer location and maintain visual contact with the trailer untillaw enforcement authorities arrive. Candidate drone aircraft aredescribed in many articles available on the Internet.

The use of drones has increased exponentially in Iraq and Afghanistan inrecent years and consideration is now being given to their use initiallyfor patrolling the Mexican US border. Tests are being conducted to finduses for drones by local and state law enforcement but a compelling casehas yet to be made for their widespread use. Such a case can be thereduction of cargo theft and its eventual elimination as described forthe first time here.

Although an optimized drone will likely be developed for this particularapplication, there are a number of candidates available now that cansatisfy the need with varying cost and proficiency. At one extreme isthe Predator at several millions of dollars each and at the other is theParrot AR.Drone at $300 each. The AR.Drone is the first quadricopterthat can be controlled by an iPhone®, iPod® touch, or iPad®. Althoughits flight time is limited to about 12 minutes, this can be increased ifthis were chosen for the cargo theft prevention task. Other optionsinclude the Raven-B which was also developed for the military and thusis expensive, however, if modified for the cargo theft use and purchasedin significant quantities this could be a good choice as it has a 4.5foot wingspan, weight 4.2 pounds and is hand launched.

Most of the drones currently available are fixed wing aircraft.Helicopter based droned are also available and are likely to bepreferred due to their ability to hover over the trailer and keep it insight. An inexpensive candidate is reported in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,059,931,7,101,246 and 7,104,862 which would need development for this use. Analternative is The German-made Microdrone which is a small dronehelicopter which is targeted in Germany for police use. Although not asfast as a fixed wing plane it has a range of 2000 meters and an hourflight duration. As long as hovering is not required, a fixed wing droneis preferable as it is less expensive and faster. In particular thePrioria Maveric or variations thereof is particularly suitable. It canbe stored in a 6 inch diameter tube and launched immediately by oneperson. It has a top speed of greater than 60 mph. It thus can be easilystored at truck stops and other fixed locations or in traveling trucksas well as police and other vehicles.

The FAA has reported that “In the United States alone, approximately 50companies, universities, and government organizations are developing andproducing some 155 unmanned aircraft designs.” It is therefore difficultat this time to pick the best drone for this use. See “FactSheet—Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS)”http://www.faa.gov/news/fact_sheets/news_story.cfm?newsId=6287. Also see“Police line up to use drones on patrol after Houston secret test”http://www.examiner.com/page-one-in-houston/police-line-up-to-use-drones-on-patrol-after-houston-secret-test.

FIG. 16 illustrates a fixed wing drone 442 pursuing a speeding tractorwith a stolen trailer 440. The drone is controlled by a ground station444 which can observe the video images captured by the drone. Once thedrone has found the target it can visually lock onto it and follow itwherever it goes while returning its location until law enforcementpersonnel are able to chase the trailer and eventually apprehend it.

To summarize, for the case where a thief steals the trailer or theentire tractor and trailer rig, once the theft has occurred themonitoring station will know either by the event transmission or by thelack of a transmission within seconds of the occurrence. The driver willbe immediately notified and in the event that that is insufficient tostop the theft, law enforcement will be immediately notified as willtruckers in the area. The truckers will attempt to block the stolenvehicle or otherwise delay its motion giving the law enforcementauthorities time to get on the scene. The truckers will in additionattempt to follow the stolen vehicle again giving the law enforcementauthorities knowledge of the location of the stolen vehicle.Additionally, drone planes can be launched and also attempt to find andtrack the stolen vehicle.

To aid in tracking the stolen vehicle, one or more hidden transmitters446 can be located on the trailer which only transmit when they receivea special coded signal preferably at a frequency that is different fromother on vehicle transmitters and thus a frequency which has not beenheretofore blocked by the thieves. Thus, once the stolen vehicle ismoving the transmitter can be triggered to provide a beacon for thepolice and the drone aircraft to lock onto. Since the transmitter is notoperating except when triggered, the thieves would not know of itsexistence until they were making their getaway and thus unlikely to stopto attempt to stop or jam the transmitter's signal. These trackingtransmitters can be judiciously hidden at random places built into thetrailer so that even if the thief suspects that there may be one or morepresent it would be difficult for him to locate and defeat them. Some ofthem, for example, can even be placed within the cargo. This suite ofcountermeasures plus driver identification and other sensors discussedelsewhere coupled with other countermeasures discussed herein designedto stall the thief will make the theft of a trailer a very high risktime consuming process thus providing time for law enforcementauthorities to arrive. This will thus result in a very high failure ratefor thefts and thus eventually eliminate cargo theft achieving one ofthe objectives of this invention.

In another application discussed briefly above, one or more exteriorsurfaces of the trailer or cargo container can be embossed or otherwisecontain patterns of reflectors (e.g., corner cube or dihedral) whichreflect an identifying code when illuminated with electromagneticradiation. This radiation can be in the terahertz or other appropriateportion of the electromagnetic spectrum which penetrates nonmetallicmaterials and reflects off of otherwise hidden surfaces which areunderneath and which can contain metal. Thus, thieves may attempt tocover up the exterior surfaces of a trailer with paint or othercamouflaging material without realizing that the ID of the trailer canstill be identified with the proper radiation. Drones, authorities,border guards and/or others can thus recognize such an equipped stolentrailer. Similarly, hidden RFID responder tags, paint or smoke bombs canalso be used to respond to an interrogation either at an unexpectedfrequency or special code, for example, which has not been jammed by thethieves.

6. Driver Identification

The presence and identification of people can be derived using variousdevices, such as, in the simplest form, by analysis of information fromRFID devices carried by an authorized driver or mounted to the vehicle'sstructure such as the seats, and then transmitted off of the vehicle.This concept is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,829,782, along with thepresence of tags and tag monitors inside a vehicle. Thus, the presenceof an authorized driver can be verified as well as the presence of otherunauthorized occupants of the trailer determined by identificationdevices and/or occupant sensors. Thus, if the driver is being abductedand another person is residing within the cab, this information can besent to the remote site for remedial action.

Since the most vulnerable time for trailer or cargo theft is when thetrailer is left unattended, an additional protection can be obtained ifthe tractor can identify that the driver is present either in the cab orat least near to the tractor. The message rate and/or monitoringfrequency can be reduced once the driver is known to be inside thetractor and the engine is started. The coded message can contain a codebit that relates the status of the driver. Is he present in the driverseat, etc? The sensing of the authorized driver can be accomplished in avariety of ways such as by sensing that a person approaching thetrailer, and presumably the driver is carrying an RFID tag, smart cardand/or other identification that can communicate with the tractor. Thedriver's smart phone, for example, can be used for this purpose.Whatever transmission message that is sent from the driver should be avariable message that cannot be easily decoded or spoofed by a thief. Ifa cellphone is used, for example, it would be best that the cellphonehas a required password before a transmission can occur. An alternativewould be for the cell phone and/or other device to have a biometricsensor such as a fingerprint, voice recognizer, hand or palm print, orface recognition sensor to authenticate the driver. An alternateapproach is to wait for the driver to enter the cab and then requireeither the entry of a password or the use of a biometric sensor such asa camera with face or palm recognition capabilities or a butt printsystem mounted within the seat bottom. Once a positive ID has beenachieved and the tractor and trailer is mobile then the transmissionrate can again be reduced. Of course the driver should have a panicbutton to signal that there is a problem and the transfer rate can againbe increased and an error code sent. Another approach to ID the driverwould be for the remote site to send a code to the driver's cell phoneand a corresponding code to the trailer as in public key encryptionsystems. The driver can then activate the vehicle with a uniqueunspoofable coded transmission from his smart phone.

A particularly appropriate biometric identification method can employthe Fujitsu PalmSecure technology(http://www.fujitsu.com/us/services/biometrics/palm-vein/) which usespalm print recognition technology as reported in the MIT TechnologyReview Blog “Beyond Cell Phone Wallets, Biometrics Promise TrulyWallet-Free Future”(http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/27057/). The FujitsuPalmSecure technology is a palm vein based strong authenticationsolution that utilizes the vascular pattern of a person's palm. Thisdevice can be mounted in the cab of the tractor, on a cell phone, PDA orequivalent portable device or other convenient location. When the devicerecognizes the palm print of the operator it can send a coded messagewhich permits deactivation of immobilization devices and the movement ofthe tractor and/or trailer.

As an alternative the driver can be provided with a keyless entrydevice, other RFID tag, smart card or cell phone with an RF transponderthat can be powerless in the form of an RFID or similar device, whichcan also be boosted as described herein and above. Generally, suchkeyless entry devices can be considered a portable identificationdevice. The interrogator, or a processing unit associated therewith,determines the proximity of the driver to the vehicle door. As shown inFIG. 13, if a driver 118 remains within a certain distance, 1 meter forexample, from the door 116, for example, for a certain time period suchas 5 seconds, then the door 116 can automatically unlock and ever openin some implementations. The distance and time period can be selected ordetermined as desired. Thus, as the driver 118 approaches the tractorand pauses, the door can automatically open (see FIG. 14).

As shown in FIG. 15, an interrogator 115 is placed on the vehicle, e.g.,in the door 112 as shown, and transmits coded waves. When the keylessentry device 113, which contains an antenna 114 and a circuit includinga circulator 135 and a memory containing a unique ID code 136, is a setdistance from the interrogator 115 for a certain duration of time, theinterrogator 115 directs a door unlocking or opening device 137 to openor unlock the door 116. The duration of time is determined from thecontinuous reception by the interrogator 115 of the ID code 136 from thekeyless entry device 113. The ID code can be a variable that is matchedwith the code expected by the interrogator or the code can be sent tothe driver and a corresponding code, such as in the public keyencryption system, sent to the interrogator from a remote site toprevent spoofing and opening of the door by an unauthorized person.

As discussed herein, information from a person entry detector can besent by the communication network to notify interested parties ofcurrent status. Additionally, an audible alarm may be sounded and aphoto can also be taken to identify the intruder or that there is anintruder. Also, motion sensors such as an accelerometer on a wall orfloor of the vehicle or an ultrasonic or optical based motion detectorsuch as used to turn on residential lights and the like, can also beused to detect intrusion into a vehicle and thus are contemplatedherein. Such sensors can be mounted at any of the preferred locationsdisclosed herein or elsewhere in or on the vehicle. If a container, forexample, is closed, a photocell which may be connected to a patternrecognition system such as a neural network, for example, can be trainedto be sensitive to very minute changes in light such as would occur whenan intruder opens a door or cuts a hole in a wall, ceiling or the floorof a vehicle even on a dark night. Even if there are holes in thevehicle that allow light to enter, the rate of change of thisillumination can be detected and used as an indication of an intrusion.

The transmission of data such as obtained or derived from imagers, orother transducers, requiring on board processing of the information,using neural networks or other algorithms for example, to a remotelocation is an important feature of some of the inventions disclosedherein. This capability can permit an owner of a cargo container ortruck trailer to obtain a picture of the interior of the vehicle at anytime via telematics. When coupled with occupant sensing, the driver of avehicle can be recognized and the result sent by telematics forauthorization to minimize the theft or unauthorized operation of avehicle. The recognition of the driver can either be performed on thevehicle or an image of the driver can be sent to a remote location forrecognition at that location.

If the driver is provided with an RFID with a biometric sensor thensystems can ascertain that the authorized driver is operating the rigand will not permit the rig to be operated otherwise. If the trailertransmits messages at periodic intervals and the remote site takesaction if there is a skipped message or a message containing an errorcode and the error code verifies that the vehicle is on course and onschedule, then theft becomes very difficult. A theft is assumed ifanything out of the ordinary occurs and the driver cannot provide anexplanation. Congestion and weather delays can be independentlyverified.

7. Theft of Cargo without the Theft of the Trailer

A common theft occurrence is where the thieves back another trailerclose to the cargo containing trailer and then break into the latter andtransfer some or all of the cargo to the former. The security of thecargo containing trailer is not breached until the receiving trailer isin place and the thieves are ready to affect a rapid transfer of thecargo. A method of accessing loads without breaking door seals, forexample, has been investigated and found to be possible in less than 3minutes (including re-fitting).

External cameras can usually sense this event before it occurs even ifthe sensing is that the camera has been covered or otherwise disabled.This message can be sent to the remote site before any theft hasoccurred and before the messaging system has been disabled. In fact thethieves may not even take time to disable the security system allowingthe cameras to send a picture of the thieves' trailer for lateridentification.

One way of thwarting this activity is to place transmitters within thecargo that can be turned on either immediately or, preferably, laterafter the new trailer is in motion. If turned on too soon, the thievesmay be able to locate and disable or shield the transmitter. Severaltransmitters can be used in the same or different pallets or other cargocontainers and be activated after varying delays providing a continuousbeacon for locating the cargo. The transmitters can operate either inspread spectrum mode or at a sufficient number of discrete frequenciesto make jamming difficult or impossible. The thieves can use trailersthat have been totally shielded to prevent electromagnetic radiationfrom leaving the trailer (a Faraday cage) but is so doing the traileritself can be sensed by drone aircraft, law enforcement personnel or atborder crossings. A terahertz scanning system for example can easilydetect such a trailer. Also metal objects appear differently under IRagain making them easy to locate. Of course it may be difficult to pickout the trailer with the stolen cargo if many similar looking trainersare present.

To eliminate the need to use a metal trailer, the thieves may attempt tocover each cargo pallet with metal foil which of course would be moretime consuming since all sides including the bottom would need covering.Since the offending trailer will need to be very close to the cargotrailer to permit rapid cargo transfer, the opportunity exists to havethe cargo container to mark the offending trailer. This can be done byprojecting paint balls or spraying the trailer with paint that would bevisible to specially equipped cameras on drones or law enforcementvehicles. Also, one or more transmitters can be shot from the cargo sothat they embed themselves into the offending trailer once again actingas a beacon for truckers, law enforcement vehicles or drones.

The solution here is once again early detection that something ishappening and means to delay the theft for as long as possible allowingtime for the authorities to arrive. Strong door locks and protectedhinges are a start and cargo pallets that are secured to the trailerstructure in a manner requiring time to release will all add time to thetheft operation. Of course any degree of securement is possible and canbe implemented as part of a continuous improvement process as failuremodes arise. The goal here is to make if difficult or even impossible toquickly steal cargo without stealing the container.

Another theft mode is where the thieves steal a container from on top ofa flatbed trailer leaving the trailer. This process requires the use ofa crane or at least winches that can be activated to drag the containeroff of the flatbed and onto the offending one. Numerous impediments canbe used to securely attach the container to the flatbed and to helpthwart such a dragging but all can probably be circumvented with somethought on the part of the thieves but again at the expense of timeduring which the authorities are closing in.

The container of course can be marked making it easier to spot bydrones, truckers and law enforcement personnel but this can also bethwarted by covering the container in one manner or another.Transmitters can be placed on the container and beacons turned on asdiscussed above perhaps easier than other cases since the thieves willnot have time to locate each one as it begins transmitting at randomtimes. Once a beacon begins transmitting the location of the trailer canbe found and drones, other truckers and law enforcement personnel canconverge on the offending trailer. Also, flares and smoke emitters canbe remotely activated if they are not discovered by the thieves.

Naturally, all of the systems described herein for cargo theftprevention do not need to be implemented at once. The goal is tomaintain a technological lead over the thieves so that the majority andeventually all thefts of cargo are eliminated.

8. Surround Trailer Monitoring

Cameras are now quite inexpensive and thus can be part of acomprehensive theft prevention system both internal and external to atrailer. Internally they can detect the opening of a door or otheraperture into the trailer and can sound an alarm if the interior spaceof the trailer is breached. As mentioned elsewhere, this alarm can be inthe form of a change in the message that is periodically transmitted tothe remote monitoring site as well as an audio or visible alarm or atransmission to a device such as a cellphone carried by the driver. If,for example, the breaching of trailer security is done without causing achange in lighting within the trailer then another event such asvibration or suspicious sound can trigger the acquiring of an imageusing an LED for lighting. Additionally this can be done automaticallyand periodically with the period being a function of the transmissionfrequency. When a new image is acquired it can be compared with aprevious image and if any changes have occurred in the presence orpositioning of the cargo, for example, then the message sent to theremote monitoring site can be appropriately altered to indicate thediscovered change.

The first thing that a sophisticated thief will do is disable theoff-site transmission system and so it is unlikely that a meaningfulmessage will get transmitted, but the mere fact that no message isreceived may be information enough for the remote site to take action.

One or more 360 degree fisheye or any other field of view cameras canalso be appropriately placed on the exterior of the trailer and imagesfrom the space around the trailer can be analyzed to see if anything ofa worrisome nature is occurring. Such an event could be the approach ofanother trailer toward the rear of the subject trailer indicating that atransfer of cargo may be about to occur. Such an event could happenprior to the disarming or defeating of the transmission system to theremote site and thus could give advanced warning that a theft may beattempted. Any change in the environment around the trailer that may beindicative of an attempt to steal the trailer or the contents thereofcan thus be signaled to the remote monitoring site. FIG. 28 illustratesone possible configuration of externally mounted cameras. Cameras 701and 704 are shown facing with a field of view out from the side of thetrailer. Camera 702 is illustrated as a camera having a 360 degree viewaround the trailer and camera 703 looks back from the rear of thetrailer to view approaching offending trailers for possibly acceptingstolen cargo.

9. System

FIG. 21 shows a flow chart of the manner in which multiple assets may bemonitored using a data processing and storage facility 510, each assethaving a unique identification code. The location of each asset isdetermined at 511, along with one or more properties or characteristicsof the contents of each asset at 512, one or more properties of theenvironment of each asset at 513, and/or the opening and/or closing ofthe doors of each asset at 514. This information is transmitted to thedata processing and storage facility 510 as represented by 515 with theidentification code. Information about the implement being used totransport the asset and the individual(s) or company or companiesinvolved in the transport of the asset can also be transmitted to thefacility as represented by 516 or this information can be already storedfrom a communication setting up the shipping event from the shippingcompany. This latter information could also be entered by an inputdevice attached to the asset.

The data processing and storage facility 510 is connected to theInternet at 517, in this preferred implementation, to enable shippers518 to check the location and progress of the asset, the contents of theasset, the environment of the asset, whether the doors are being openedand closed impermissibly and the individual and companies handling theasset on an exception basis. The same information, or a subset of thisinformation, can also be accessed by law enforcement personnel at 519and maritime/port authorities at 520. Different entities can beauthorized to access different items of information or subsets of thetotal information available relating to each asset.

For anti-theft purposes, the shipper enters the manifest of the assetusing an input device 521 so that the manifest can be compared to thecontents of the asset (at 522). A determination is made at 523 as towhether there are any differences between the current contents of theasset and the manifest. For example, the manifest might indicate thepresence of contents whereas the information transmitted by the assetreveals that it does not contain any objects. When such a discrepancy isrevealed, the shipment can be intercepted at 524 to ascertain thewhereabouts of the cargo. The history of the travels of the asset wouldalso be present in the data facility 510 so that it can be readilyascertained where the cargo disappeared. If no discrepancy is revealed,the asset is allowed to proceed at 525. Of course if the SMS monitoringsystem has been implemented as discussed above the theft of any cargowill have been discovered within seconds of or even prior to itsoccurrence.

Having the ability to transmit coded information to a satellite,ubiquitous internet, SMS, or other telematics system, using a low costdevice having a battery that lasts for many years opens up many other,previously impractical opportunities. Many of these opportunities arediscussed above and below and all are teachings of at least one of theinventions disclosed herein. In this section, opportunities related tomonitoring the environment in the vicinity of the container will bediscussed. Many types of sensors can be used for the purpose of exteriormonitoring including ultrasound, imagers such as cameras both with andwithout illumination including visual, infrared or ultraviolet imagers,radar, scanners including laser radar and phased array radar, othertypes of sensors which sense other parts of the electromagneticspectrum, capacitive sensors, electric or magnetic field sensors, andchemical, temperature, moisture etc. sensors among others.

Cameras either with or without a source of illumination can be used torecord people approaching the container and perhaps stealing thecontents of the container. These cameras can be at the parking locationsat truck stops or on the trailers. A particularly appropriate camera isone that is positioned on top of the trailer and has a 360 degree fieldof view. See, for example, Ridden, P “Researchers develop genuine 3Dcamera”, www.Gizmag.com. At the appropriate frequencies, (terahertz, forexample) the presence of concealed weapons can be ascertained asdescribed in Alien Vision: Exploring the Electromagnetic Spectrum WithImaging Technology (SPIE Monograph Vol. PM104) by Austin Richards.Infrared sensors can be used to detect the presence of animal lifeincluding humans in the vicinity of container. Radio frequency sensorscan sense the presence of authorized personnel having a keyless entrytype transmitter or a SAW, RFID or similar device of the proper design.In this way, the container can be locked almost as secure as a safe, forexample, and only permit an authorized person carrying the properidentification to open the container or other storage facility.

A pattern recognition system can be trained to identify voice, palm,butt, facial or iris patterns, for example, of authorized personnel orascertain the identity of authorized personnel to prevent theft of thecontainer. Such a pattern recognition system can operate on the imagesobtained by the cameras. That is, if the pattern recognition system is aneural network, it would be trained to identify or ascertain theidentity of authorized personnel based on images of such personnelduring a training phase and thus operationally only allow such personnelto open the container, enter the container and/or handle the container.

A wide variety of smart cards, biometric identification systems (such asfingerprints, voice prints, palm prints and Iris scans) can be used forthe same purpose. When an unauthorized person approaches the container,his or her picture can be taken and, in particular, if sensors determinethat someone is attempting to force entry into the container, thatperson's picture can be relayed via the communication system to theproper authorities. Cameras with a proper pattern recognition system canalso be used to identify if an approaching person is wearing a disguisesuch as a ski mask or is otherwise acting in a suspicious manner. Thisdetermination can provide a critical timely warning and in some casespermit an alarm to be sounded or otherwise notify the properauthorities.

Capacitance sensors or magnetic sensors can be used to ascertain thatthe container is properly attached to a trailer. An RFID or barcodescanner on the container can be used to record the identification of thetractor, trailer, or other element of the transportation system. Theseare just a small sampling of the additional sensors that can be usedwith the container or even mounted on a tractor or chassis to monitorthe container. With the teachings of at least one of the inventionsdisclosed herein, the output of any of these sensors can now betransmitted to a remote facility using a variety of telematics methodsincluding communication via a low power link to the internet, SMS or asatellite, such as provided by the Skybitz Corporation as describedabove and others.

Thus, as mentioned above, many new opportunities now exist for applyinga wide variety of sensors to a cargo container or other object asdiscussed above and below. Through a communication system such as aubiquitous internet, a cell phone network using SMS, a LEO orgeostationary or other satellite system, critical information about theenvironment of container or changes in that environment can betransmitted to the container owner, law enforcement authorities,container contents owner etc. Furthermore, the system is generally lowcost and may not require connection to an external source of power. Thesystem generally uses low power from a battery that can last for yearswithout maintenance depending on the duty cycle.

Many of the sensor systems described above output data that can best beanalyzed using pattern recognition systems such as neural networks,cellular neural networks, fuzzy logic, sensor fusion, modular neuralnetworks, combination neural networks, support vector machines, neuralfuzzy systems or other classifiers that convert the pattern data into anoutput indicative of the class of the object or event being sensed. Oneinteresting method, for example, is the ZISC® chip system of SiliconRecognition Inc., Petaluna, Calif. A general requirement for the lowpower satellite monitoring system is that the amount of data routinelysent to the satellite be kept to a minimum. For most transmissions, thisinformation will involve the location of the container, for example,plus a few additional bytes of status information determined by themission of the particular container and its contents as discussed above.Thus, the pattern recognition algorithms must convert typically acomplex image or other data to a few bytes representative of the classof the monitored item or event.

In some instances, the container must send considerably more data and ata more frequent interval than normal. This will generally happen onlyduring an exceptional situation or event and when the added batterydrain of this activity is justified. In this case, the system willsignal the communication channel that an exception situation exists andto prepare to receive additional information.

Many of the sensors on the container and inside the container may alsorequire significant energy and thus should be used sparingly. Forexample, if the container is known to be empty and the doors closed,there may be no need to monitor the interior of the container unless thedoors have been reopened. Similarly, if the container is stationary in asecured location and doors are closed, then continuously monitoring theinterior of the container to determine the presence of cargo isunnecessary. Thus, each of the sensors can have a program duty cyclethat depends on exterior or other events. In some applications eitherenergy harvesting such as solar power or other source of power may beavailable either intermittently to charge the battery or continuously.

If the vehicle such as a container is stationary at a secured locationthen usually the monitoring can take place infrequently and the batteryis conserved. When the vehicle is in motion then energy is frequentlyavailable to charge the battery and thus more frequent monitoring cantake place as the battery is charged. Finally if the container isstationary but not at a secured location then very frequent monitoringmay be called for, The technique is known as “energy harvesting” andinvolves, for example, the use of a piezoelectric material that iscompressed, bent or otherwise flexed thereby creating an electriccurrent that can be used with appropriate circuitry to charge thebattery. Other methods include the use of a magnet and coil where themagnet moves relative to the coil under forces caused by the motion ofthe vehicle or an air turbine powered by the flow of air surrounding amoving vehicle.

Since the duty cycle of the sensor system may vary considerably, andsince any of the sensors can fail, be sabotaged or otherwise be renderedincapable of performing its intended function either from time,exposure, or intentionally, it is expected that some or all of thesensors will be equipped with a diagnostic capability. The communicationsystem will generally interrogate each sensor or merely expect atransmission from each sensor and if that interrogation or transmissionfails or a diagnostic error occurs, this fact will be communicated tothe appropriate facility. If, for example, someone attempts to cover thelens of a camera so that a theft would not be detected, the mere factthat the lens was covered could be reported, alerting authorities thatsomething unusual was occurring.

As mentioned previously, there are times when the value of the contentsof a container can exceed the value of the tractor, chassis andcontainer itself. Additionally, there are times when the contents of thecontainer can be easily damaged if subjected to unreasonable vibrations,angles, accelerations and shocks. For these situations, an inertialmeasurement unit (IMU) can be used in conjunction with the container tomonitor the accelerations experienced by the container (or the cargo)and to issue a warning if those accelerations are deemed excessiveeither in magnitude, duration, or frequency or where the integrations ofthese accelerations indicate an excessive velocity, angular velocity orangular displacement. Note that for some applications in order tominimize the power expended at the sensor installation, the IMUcorrection calculations based on the GPS can be done at an off sensorlocation such as the receiving station of the communicated information.The IMU or other inertial sensors can also be used to characterize theroadway on which the trailer is traveling perhaps giving an earlywarning if the trailer has left the expected roadway and is traveling onan unexpected secondary road indicative of the theft of the trailer orof the tractor and trailer combination. Of course if the route has beenprogrammed into the onboard processor then deviation from the routewould be known and the appropriate error code transmitted.

If the vehicle operates on a road that has previously been accuratelymapped, to an accuracy of perhaps a few centimeters, then the analysissystem can know the input from the road to the vehicle tires and thus tothe chassis of the trailer. From this the system could know if the massof the container has changed. The IMU can also calculate the velocity ofthe trailer. By monitoring the motion of the container when subjected toa known stimulus, the road, the inertial properties of the container andchassis system can be estimated. If these inertial properties are knownthan a safe operating speed limit can be determined such that theprobability of rollover, for example, is kept within reasonable bounds.If the driver exceeds that velocity, then a warning can be issued.Similarly, in some cases, the traction of the trailer wheels on theroadway can be estimated based on the tendency of a trailer to skidsideways. This also can be the basis of issuing a warning to the driverand to notify the contents owner especially if the vehicle is beingoperated in an unsafe manner for the road or weather conditions. Sincethe information system can also know the weather conditions in the areawhere the vehicle is operating, this added information can aid in thesafe driving and safe speed limit determination. In some cases, thevibrations caused by a failing tire can also be determined. For thosecases where radio frequency tire monitors are present, the container canalso monitor the tire pressure and determine when a dangerous situationexists. Finally, the vehicle system can input to the overall system viatelematics when the road is covered with ice or when it encounters apothole. In some cases a thief can cause a tire to fail and thus causethe driver to pull off the road to investigate giving the thief theopportunity to commandeer the vehicle. Such a tire failure event canalert the remote site and the transmission rate can be increased.

Thus, there are many safety related aspects to having sensors mounted ona container and where those sensors can communicate periodically with aLEO or other satellite, the internet, SMS, or other communicationsystem, and thereafter to the Internet or directly to the appropriatefacility. Some of these rely on an accurate IMU. Although low cost IMUsare generally not very accurate, when they are combined using a Kalmanfilter with the GPS system, which is on the container as part of thetracking system, the accuracy of the IMU can be greatly improved,approaching that of military grade systems.

The discussion above has concentrated, in part, on containers thatcontain cargo where presumably this cargo is shipped from one company ororganization to another. This cargo could be automotive parts, animals,furniture, weapons, bulk commodities, machinery, fruits, vegetables, TVsets, or any other commonly shipped product. What has been describedabove is a monitoring system for tracking this cargo and makingmeasurements to inform the interested parties (owners, law enforcementpersonnel etc.) of the status of the container, its contents, and theenvironment. This becomes practical when a ubiquitous internet or cellphone network, SMS, or a satellite system exists such as the Skybitz,for example, LEO or geostationary satellite system coupled with a lowcost low power small GPS receiver and communication device capable ofsending information periodically to the internet, cell phone network orsatellite. Once the satellite has received the position information fromthe container, for example, this information can be relayed to acomputer system wherein the exact location of the container can beascertained. Additionally, if the container has an RFID reader, thelocation of all packages having an RFID tag that are located within thecontainer can also be ascertained.

The accuracy of this determination with the latest GPS category IIIsatellites is currently on the order of a few meters and soon will be onthe order of decimeters. However, the ionosphere caused errors in GPSsignals received by container receiver can be determined from a varietyof differential GPS systems and that information can be coupled with theinformation from the container to determine a precise location of thecontainer to perhaps as accurate as a few centimeters. This calculationcan be done at any facility that has access to the relevant DGPScorrections and the container location. It need not be done onboard thecontainer. Using accurate digital maps the location of the container onthe earth can be extremely precisely determined. This principle can nowbe used for other location determining purposes. The data processingfacility that receives the information from the asset via theaforementioned communication system can also know the DGPS correctionsat the asset location and thus can relay to the vehicle its preciselocation.

Many transmission modes exist including cellular phone systems,satellite communications and the Internet. The Internet systems can bebroken into two types, those in use now that are available only atparticular “hot-spots” and a ubiquitous internet which by definition isavailable almost everywhere. The use of ubiquitous internet is believedto be unique to the inventions herein as the inventors may have been thefirst to recognize that ubiquitous internet would become available atleast partially due to the inventions herein and can be counted on toprovide the sole system for communication from various vehiclesincluding automobiles, trucks and truck trailers, storage tanks andshipping containers replacing all other communication systems. Theirvision is now being realized through such systems as WiMAX and LTE.

10. Continuous Improvement, Upgradeable Software

A related technology that can be integrated into a cargo theftprevention system includes the use of the driver's cell phone signal tolocate the driver and determine whether he or she is inside the tractor.If the position of the trailer is known from a trailer resident systemand that shows that the trailer is moving away from the driver's cellphone then even if all else appears in order there is cause for alarm.In another case the SMS from the driver's cellphone or from a trailer ortractor resident system can be used to automatically unlock and open ayard gate or warehouse door eliminating time lost in waiting for such anevent and permitting the tractor to quickly move into a secure location.A truck which needs to wait for the gate to be opened, for example, maybe a target for a thief or hijacker.

A smartphone can be used to operate various components within thevehicle which are not necessarily related to preventing thefts but mayfacilitate the safe passage of the vehicle to its final destination. Ifthe vehicle has a heads-up display on the windshield, for example,messages from the home office can be displayed to warn the driver of badweather, an accident etc.

Vehicle resident sensors can be used to monitor the environment bothinside and outside of the tractor and trailer and can send messages aspart of the SMS message when, for example, a criminal introduces a gasinto the tractor compartment to immobilize the operator. Whilemonitoring the temperature within the trailer or in the environment,presence of smoke in the exterior environment etc. can be send with eachSMS message or on an exception basis.

Additionally, vehicle resident sensors can monitor the health of thedriver to determine if he has had or is about to have a heart attack,has had too much to drink or is operating under the influence of drugsor is just getting drowsy. The vapors within the tractor as well as thedriver's heartbeat and breathing rate can be monitored with vehicleresident sensors as discussed in U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/419,988 filed Mar. 14, 2012. Messages related to the sensordeterminations can be appended to the periodic SMS messages and caninfluence the rate that these messages are transmitted.

The SMS messages sent by the vehicle can also be used to pay tollseliminating the need for the tractor to carry multiple RFID transponderssuch as an EZ-Pass and a Sunpass, for example. Through setting up acooperative agreement on a state by state basis the tolling authoritycan get a message from the remote site that a vehicle is about to enterthe Lincoln Tunnel, for example, and that the toll is being paid by XYZcompany rather than by an EZ-pass transponder. This then begins theprocess of eventually providing for tolls based on miles traveled ratherthan on fuel taxes and toll stations.

Some of the products that arise from the inventions disclosed hereininclude brake locking systems, SMS communication systems, Intrusionmonitors, the use of drones to locate stolen trailers and locationsystems for stolen trailers.

The development of theft prevention systems must continue to evolve asthe thieves become more sophisticated. Since the goal is zero thefts,every time a theft of an equipped trailer occurs the system will needrevision to remove the newly discovered failure mode. This may requirethat software resident on trailer theft prevention systems beupgradeable remotely.

Basically the system described herein can be implemented in stages asthe thieves become more sophisticated. This system if implemented nowwould probably eliminate 90% to 99% of cargo theft. Since the driverpresence can become a key element in a successful theft, the incidenceof hijacking the driver alone with the rig will probably increase eventhough the penalty of the crime also significantly increases. Forexample, assume that the thief places an explosive device on thedriver's door when the driver stops for a traffic light and calls thedriver on his cell phone to give him instructions. The first instructionmay be to open the window so that a radio communication device can beplaced within the cab. The driver is then instructed to drive to aparticular location where the theft quickly occurs. This type of eventhas yet to occur and that gives time for its preparation.

The theft of cargo in transit has mainly been considered above. Asignificant percentage of cargo thefts occur at terminals and principlessimilar those discussed above can be applied to solving this problem. Ifthe cargo has already been placed within a trailer then the principlesabove should eliminate the problem. Basically the setting of the trailerbrakes prevents movement of trailer. Authorized driver (AD) parkstrailer, the brakes engage and disengage when AD returns. AD isdetermined by remote site that pairs trailer ID with AD to allowmovement. The trailer when loaded sends messages frequently as discussedabove. Lack of an expected received message creates an alarm.

Cargo theft within a warehouse is the responsibility of the warehousemanagement. If the driver is part of the theft gang then that should beobvious as the theft is occurring. Counterfeit shipping documents can bedetermined by the use of driver biometric IDs. If the driver drops offthe container at an unauthorized site, the status transmissions willstop or not be as anticipated resulting in an alarm. The grab and runcase where an individual or group follows a targeted truck in a van andwhen the truck comes to a stop, suspects exit the van, open trailerdoors and off-load cargo before the truck takes off would cause an errorcode or the status transmissions to stop. In either case the theft hasbeen detected early and by making it difficult to open the doors thetheft can be delayed long enough for the authorities to spring intoaction. Also by putting transmitters within the cargo and furthersecuring the cargo to the trailer this can significantly delay the theftand permit the stolen cargo to be tracked.

Some other types of events that may need to be addressed if they becomecommon include, as reported in the aforementioned 2007 EU Parliamentreport, the Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA):

-   -   1. The use of Gas or explosives. Gas will allegedly be piped        through the air vents into the driver's cabin or explosives may        be used as a diversion. Gas related incidents have been reported        across Europe, in Spain, the UK, France, Italy and Belgium,        while in Sweden armed gangs have been using explosives.    -   2. Impersonation of police/customs officers. Criminals dressed        as police or customs officers will signal to the driver that he        must pull over, at which point they will take control of the        vehicle, often using violence to do so. The uniforms worn by the        criminals are often genuine. The sophistication of disguises has        increased with criminals now seemingly aware that they can no        longer rely on simple flashing blue lights to stop vehicles.        Drivers are reminded that normally they will only be asked to        stop by uniformed officers in marked vehicles and, when in        doubt, to use their vulnerable load cards.    -   3. Staged accident. Criminals will stage an accident so that the        driver will have to stop. They will then take the vehicle from        him by force. This technique has been used in a number of        different crimes and not exclusively in the UK. The technique is        risky but one of the best ways to bypass security measures such        as off route alarms and panic buttons. Security managers should        review reporting procedures for drivers.    -   4. Forced stop. Criminals may set up a fake checkpoint on the        road so that the driver will have to stop. Again, the vehicle        will be taken by force.    -   5. Moving vehicle attack. Offenders approach moving load from        behind, jumping from their own vehicle onto the loaded truck and        remove goods from the still driving vehicle, often by simply        throwing them off the trailer.    -   6. Target vehicle marking. Offenders approach targeted vehicles        and either mark them so they are easier to follow from distance:        placing of reflective items at the rear or breaking light        fittings to show a white light at the rear.    -   7. Theft of load or loaded vehicles from compound. Offenders        approach and remove either loads or entire loaded vehicles and        drive away often utilizing information from current of previous        legitimate employees. Vulnerable load cards were introduced by        the transport industry of some EU Member States. The card        explains (for example to police) that the driver is all right        with any police controls though not in dark and remote places.        It suggests that the driver follows the patrol car to the        nearest police station or similar before the control is done.        However, most EU police forces do not acknowledge this card        officially.    -   8. Tracking devices. GPS systems allow truck movements to be        monitored either during routine delivery or when notified that        it is subject to a crime. Most GPS systems operate by line of        sight, meaning their antenna has to see the sky in order to send        tracking information. What professional cargo thieves will do is        disconnect a GPS antenna the moment they steal a truck, thereby        thwarting the system. In response, GPS manufacturers have tried        to overcome this by concealing their antennas. Cellular assisted        GPS units don't require line of sight to a satellite, have no        visible antennas and can be put in trailers or mixed with a        truck's cargo in order to prevent it from being found. Systems        should be developed to escalate any activation to the police/law        enforcement agencies. Companies managing these systems should be        certified by the relevant national authorities.

Most of the above events are handled by the combination of theinventions listed above including brake locking, messaging, driverbiometric based IDs, route deviation sensing etc.

Although several preferred embodiments are illustrated and describedabove, there are possible combinations using other geometries, sensors,materials and different dimensions for the components that perform thesame functions. At least one of the inventions disclosed herein is notlimited to the above embodiments and should be determined by thefollowing claims. There are also numerous additional applications inaddition to those described above. Many changes, modifications,variations and other uses and applications of the subject inventionwill, however, become apparent to those skilled in the art afterconsidering this specification and the accompanying drawings whichdisclose the preferred embodiments thereof. All such changes,modifications, variations and other uses and applications which do notdepart from the spirit and scope of the invention are deemed to becovered by the invention which is limited only by the following claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A brake locking system for a vehicleincluding a drum brake applied during non-movement of the vehicle,comprising: a ratchet wheel adapted to be coupled to the drum brake suchthat when rotation of said ratchet wheel is prevented, release of thedrum brake is prevented; a plurality of pawls arranged to engage withsaid ratchet wheel, each at a respective location along a circumferenceof said ratchet wheel; and a release system for moving said pawls out ofengagement with said ratchet wheel, said release system being configuredto receive a remotely-issued command to move said pawls out ofengagement with said ratchet wheel.
 2. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising a rotatable S-cam having a first rotatable state whereinrelease of the drum brake is possible and a second non-rotatable statein which rotation of said S-cam is prevented by said pawls.
 3. Thesystem of claim 1, further comprising a solenoid associated with each ofsaid pawls for withdrawing the associated one of said pawls fromengagement with said ratchet wheel.
 4. The system of claim 3, whereinsaid release system comprises a respective brake lock out controllerthat controls each of said solenoids.
 5. The system of claim 1, whereinsaid release system is configured to receive the remotely-issued commandto move said pawls out of engagement with said ratchet wheel as amessage from a message-generating communication system.
 6. The system ofclaim 1, wherein said plurality of pawls comprise two pawls arranged onopposite sides of said ratchet wheel.
 7. The system of claim 1, furthercomprising a communication device configured to generate the command forsaid release system.
 8. The system of claim 1, wherein said releasesystem comprises a respective brake lock out controller that controlsmovement of said pawls, said release system being configured to receiveencoded commands and decode the commands to control the movement of saidpawls.
 9. A vehicle including a theft prevention system associated witha wheel on which a drum brake is operative, comprising a brake lockingsystem comprising: a ratchet wheel adapted to be coupled to the drumbrake such that when rotation of said ratchet wheel is prevented,release of the drum brake is prevented; a plurality of pawls arranged toengage with said ratchet wheel, each at a respective location along acircumference of said ratchet wheel; and a release system for movingsaid pawls out of engagement with said ratchet wheel, said releasesystem being configured to receive a remotely-issued command to movesaid pawls out of engagement with said ratchet wheel; and a plate andmud guard that shields said brake locking system such that removal ofthe wheel is required to gain access to said brake locking system. 10.The system of claim 9, wherein said brake locking system in its entiretyis arranged in a brake area around the wheel.
 11. The system of claim 9,wherein said brake locking system is partly arranged outside of a brakearea around the wheel, said part arranged outside of the brake areaincluding components that are adversely affected by elevatedtemperatures in the brake area.
 12. The system of claim 9, wherein saidbrake locking system further comprises a solenoid for withdrawing saidpawls from engagement with said ratchet wheel.
 13. The system of claim12, wherein said release system comprises a brake lock out controllerthat controls said solenoid.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein saidcontroller is arranged outside of a brake area around the wheel andcoupled to said solenoid via at least one wire.
 15. The system of claim9, further comprising a communications unit that generates the commandsto be received by said release system.
 16. The system of claim 15,wherein said communications unit is arranged to generate a coded messagesuch that said release system is configured to decode the message. 17.The system of claim 9, wherein said plurality of pawls comprise twopawls arranged on opposite sides of said ratchet wheel.
 18. The systemof claim 9, wherein said release system comprises a respective brakelock out controller that controls movement of said pawls, said releasesystem being configured to receive encoded commands and decode thecommands to control the movement of said pawls.
 19. A method formonitoring a cargo container, comprising: providing a transmitter on thecontainer and a remote location apart from the container with an initialschedule of messages to be transmitted from the transmitter on thecontainer to the remote location when an authorized driver moving thecontainer is not present proximate the container; transmitting messagesfrom the transmitter to the remote location according to the initialschedule of messages; modifying the initial schedule of messages tocreate a new schedule of messages different than the initial schedule ofmessages when the authorized driver is present proximate the container,the new, different schedule providing a reduced rate of transmission ofmessages relative to the rate of transmission according to the initialschedule of messages; providing the new, different schedule of messagesto the transmitter and transmitting messages from the transmitter to theremote location according to the new, different schedule such that thetransmitter transmits messages to the remote location according to thenew, different schedule of messages instead of according to the initialschedule of messages when the driver is present proximate the container;notifying the remote location of the presence of the driver andproviding the remote location with the new, different schedule ofmessages to be transmitted from the transmitter on the container to theremote location; and identifying theft of the container when a messageis not received at the remote location according to the initial scheduleof messages prior to notification of the remote location of the presenceof the driver proximate the container or when a message is not receivedat the remote location according to the new, different schedule ofmessages after notification of the remote location of the presence ofthe driver proximate the container.
 20. The method of claim 19, furthercomprising determining location of the container using an on-boardlocation-determining system; and providing the determined location ofthe container with the messages being transmitted from the transmitteron the container to the remote location.